Zoological Institute, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, Hamburg 20146, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2011 Jul 19;2:397. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1410.
In eusocial species, some individuals sacrifice their own reproduction for the benefit of others. The evolutionary transition towards eusociality may have been facilitated by ancestral species having a monogamous mating system (the monogamy hypothesis) or a haplodiploid genetic system (the haplodiploidy hypothesis), or it may have been entirely driven by other (ecological) factors. Here we show, using a model that describes the dynamics of insect colony foundation, growth and death, that monogamy and haplodiploidy facilitate the evolution of eusociality in a novel, mutually reinforcing way. Our findings support the recently questioned importance of relatedness for the evolution of eusociality, and simultaneously highlight the importance of explicitly accounting for the ecological rules of colony foundation, growth and death in models of social evolution.
在真社会性物种中，一些个体为了他人的利益而牺牲自己的繁殖。向真社会性的进化转变可能是通过具有一夫一妻制交配系统（一夫一妻制假说）或单倍二倍体遗传系统（单倍二倍体假说）的祖先物种而促进的，或者它可能完全由其他（生态）因素驱动。在这里，我们使用一个描述昆虫殖民地建立、成长和死亡动态的模型表明，一夫一妻制和单倍二倍体以一种新颖的、相互增强的方式促进了真社会性的进化。我们的研究结果支持了最近对亲缘关系对真社会性进化重要性的质疑，同时强调了在社会进化模型中明确考虑殖民地建立、成长和死亡的生态规则的重要性。
