The influence of multiple inseminations and multiple foundresses on social evolution

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Population Genetics

Background:

• Breeding biology shapes genetic variation within and between progeny groups.
• Key aspects include mating systems, paternity, nesting behavior, and fecundity apportionment.
• Genetic correlations among individuals can also influence social evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the influence of breeding biology on social evolution.
• To derive conditions for the spread of genes promoting social behaviors.
• To compare the effects of different breeding biologies on the rate of gene spread.

Main Methods:

• Representing selection for social behavior genes as covariance between gene frequency and relative fitness.
• Partitioning this covariance into within- and between-group components.
• Utilizing models of genotype fitnesses and breeding biologies to determine conditions for altruistic allele increase.

Main Results:

• Variation in the number of reproductive females per nest has a greater impact on social evolution than variation in the number of mates per female.
• The harmonic mean is a more effective statistic than the arithmetic mean for characterizing evolved sociality.

Conclusions:

• Breeding biology is a critical determinant of social evolution.
• Understanding reproductive strategies, particularly nesting behavior, is key to predicting the evolution of sociality.
• Harmonic means offer superior insights into the potential for evolved social behaviors.