Monogamy promotes altruistic sterility in insect societies.

ABSTRACT: Monogamy is associated with sibling-directed altruism in multiple animal taxa, including insects, birds and mammals. Inclusive-fitness theory readily explains this pattern by identifying high relatedness as a promoter of altruism. In keeping with this prediction, monogamy should promote the evolution of voluntary sterility in insect societies if sterile workers make for better helpers. However, a recent mathematical population-genetics analysis failed to identify a consistent effect of monogamy on voluntary worker sterility. Here, we revisit that analysis. First, we relax genetic assumptions, considering not only alleles of extreme effect-encoding either no sterility or complete sterility-but also alleles with intermediate effects on worker sterility. Second, we broaden the stability analy

SUBMITTER: Davies NG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5990772 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature