Behaviour and Social Evolution of Wasps: The Communal Aggregation Hypothesis - Rilegato

Ito, Yoshiaki

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0198546831 ISBN 13: 9780198546832

Casa editrice: Oxford Univ Pr, 1993

Riassunto

In this book, Yosiaki Ito presents data on tropical wasps which encourage him to suggest that kin selection has been over-emphasized as an evolutionary explanation of sociality. He concentrates on the Vespidae (paper wasps and hornets), a group much discussed by evolutionary biologists because it exhibits all stages of social evolution: subsociality, primitive eusociality, and advanced eusociality. The author reports field observations by himself and others in Central America, Asia, and Australia, showing that multiple egg-layers in a nest are not uncommon. Because coexistence of many 'queens' leads to lower relatedness among colony members than in single-queen colonies, he suggests that kin selection may not be the most powerful force determining observed social patterns. Instead, subsocial wasps may first have aggregated for defence purposes in habitats with a high risk of predation, with mutualistic associations among many queens. Through parental manipulation and then kin selection, differentiation into within-generation castes may have followed.
Of interest to all students of ecology, evolution, and behaviour, this book beautifully illustrates the ability to combine wide-ranging data with thoughtful questions that is the author's trademark.

Su questo libro

L'autore

Yosiaki Itô is at Okinawa University.

Product Description

Book by It Yosiaki

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Oxford Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0198546831
• ISBN 13: 9780198546832
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 167