Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70962-0 - Social Behaviour: Genes, Ecology and Evolution Edited by Tamas Szekely, Allen J. Moore, Jan Komdeur Excerpt More information Introduction The uphill climb of sociobiology: towards a new synthesis Tamás Székely, Allen J. Moore and Jan Komdeur Social behaviour garners broad interest: biologists, more complex models and clever experiments to dis- social scientists, psychologists and economists all entangle cause and effect. Although the study of social incorporate a consideration of social behaviour in behaviour goes back thousands of years (Dugatkin their studies. This breadth of interest is unsurprising, 1997), it is this complexity arising from interactions as the vast majority of animals (and all that reproduce that fascinates evolutionary biologists. sexually) live partly (or fully) in social environments. Our enthusiasm for social behaviour led us to dis- As Robert Trivers (1985) succinctly put it, ‘Everybody cuss the various ways we can study and understand has a social life.’ Some of this interest undoubtedly social behaviour among animals. In 2006 the three emerges because members of our own species (Homo of us drafted an outline of an ambitious book, and sapiens) live in extensive societies and spend much contacted Cambridge University Press with the out- time interacting with each other. Yet you do not have line. Our main motivation was the lack of a compre- to be human for social behaviour to have a strong hensive volume that would cover both proximate and influence on biological processes. The significance of ultimate aspects of social behaviour, and go beyond social behaviour is easy to see: if you isolate an ant, a taxon-specific treatises on some of the workhorses fish or a bird from its peers in a sort of Kaspar Hauser of social evolution (e.g. social insects, birds and setup, within a short time many of its ‘normal’ behav- mammals). Social behaviour has come a long way iours will change and be impaired. Social behaviour, since the pioneering papers of Hamilton (1964) and heuristically defined as activities among members of Maynard Smith and Price (1973), and the landmark the same species that have fitness consequences for syntheses of Wilson (1975) and Trivers (1985). Given both the focal individual and other individuals in the the stimulus of these papers and books, researchers group, is thus ubiquitous. investigated social behaviour with renewed vigour. The perplexing causes and far-reaching implica- Furthermore, the subsequent decades have applied tions of social behaviour make it a rich subject to help new tools and new perspectives, and have gained understand evolution (Gardner & Foster 2008). The new insights: advances in molecular genetics, neuro- understanding of social evolution is challenging, given biology, mathematical theories of social behaviour that social behaviour is often costly. Furthermore, and phylogenetic methods fundamentally changed unlike many traits that are passively selected by the the way we study animal behaviour, and what we environment, in the context of social behaviour the know about social traits. We thought that to further animals create selection for themselves by interact- advance sociobiology would require a comprehen- ing with each other. This added complexity requires sive book which provides an overview of theoretical Social Behaviour: Genes, Ecology and Evolution, ed. Tamás Székely, Allen J. Moore and Jan Komdeur. Published by Cambridge University Press. © Cambridge University Press 2010. 1 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70962-0 - Social Behaviour: Genes, Ecology and Evolution Edited by Tamas Szekely, Allen J. Moore, Jan Komdeur Excerpt More information 2 Tamás Székely, Allen J. Moore, Jan Komdeur foundations and recent advances, and looks at impli- offspring and parent fitness. Furthermore, there is an cations beyond evolutionary biology. increasing interest in how these factors might interact E. O. Wilson (1975) defined sociobiology as a ‘system- and intersect. atic study of the biological basis of all social behavior’. On the other hand, geneticists, developmental Sociobiology was created by population biologists and behavioural biologists and neuroscientists are begin- zoologists, and indeed Wilson wrote his tome as a true ning to acknowledge that many of the genetic/gen- synthesis with the aim of pulling together theory and omic/neural processes may not make sense unless empirical data for (primarily) vertebrate social behav- they are placed into an ecological context. There is a iour, having covered insect behaviour in an earlier recognition that we need to understand the selective book (Wilson 1971). For this reason, most scholars processes to which animals are subject in their natural consider sociobiology sitting conveniently within the environment. The most exciting studies of proximate broad field of population biology. The agenda we set in influences on behaviour examine the interactions this book, however, is broader and explicitly embraces between the genome, development and the environ- genetics, developmental biology and physiology. We ment. We believe that investigating behaviour from take Wilson’s definition literally, and argue that inves- this integrative perspective will lead our understand- tigation of any trait that has a bearing on social behav- ing of eco-evo-devo: the interplay between ecology, iour should justly be called sociobiology. Therefore, a evolution, genes and development. developmental biologist who studies limb develop- We have three major objectives with this book. Our ment may be labelled as a sociobiologist, if his/her first is to provide an overview of proximate and ultim- objective is to understand how limb development and ate approaches to social behaviour. Social behav- locomotion contributes to social traits – for instance, iour is all too often branded as a field dominated by group foraging. Therefore, we view sociobiology as any behavioural ecologists, evolutionary psychologists aspect of evolutionary biology research that targets and theoretical evolutionary biologists. We believe social traits. this perception is mistaken, because what makes Sociobiology is in the midst of a major paradigm social behaviour exciting is its fundamentally multi- shift. Early ethologists such as Konrad Lorenz, Niko dimensional nature. By contrasting examples from Tinbergen, Karl von Frisch and their students pro- both mechanism and function, we anticipate that vided a scientific basis of social behaviour by investi- novel syntheses will emerge. For this reason, we have gating group and family life, fighting, communication, selected contributors who investigate organisms ran- display behaviours and mating. This ethological ging from bacteria to humans, and who use a variety paradigm later split into studies of mechanisms of research tools including a candidate gene approach, (neuroethology, behavioural genetics) and function quantitative genetics, neuroendocrine studies, eco- (behavioural ecology, sociobiology), as predicted by logical studies of cost–benefit analyses, evolutionary E. O. Wilson (1975). The two distinct approaches are game theory and phylogenetic analyses. now moving back towards each other. On the one Our second objective is to produce an access- hand, behavioural ecologists have begun to real- ible overview of key topics in social behaviour for ise that functions cannot be fully understood with- all students of behaviour, both academic and non- out an appreciation of underlying mechanisms. For academic. Social behaviour appeals to a broad audi- example, where traditionally behavioural ecologists ence in diverse biological fields and beyond biology: studied how parents influence their offspring through for instance, clinical scientists, psychiatrists and nest attendance and feeding, modern researchers philosophers of science may find some chapters use- might investigate the same problem by consider- ful. Although the target audience for each chapter is ing the constituents of the egg in which the embryo undoubtedly the research field in which the authors developed, the architecture of the nest and how it work, we asked contributors to make their review influences physiological processes, and basic bio- broad. We hope that the book’s accessible style will chemical processes such as the role of antioxidants in elicit cross-fertilisation between varied disciplines. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70962-0 - Social Behaviour: Genes, Ecology and Evolution Edited by Tamas Szekely, Allen J. Moore, Jan Komdeur Excerpt More information The uphill climb of sociobiology: towards a new synthesis 3 Finally, we also hope to inspire the new generation (Part II) and implications (Part III). Chapters in Part of students and young scientists. To fulfil this goal, we I deal with modelling social behaviour from four per- invited 21 guests to explain why they are interested spectives (evolutionary genetics, game theory, phylo- in social behaviour. These guest profiles are short genetic inference and population genetics), and one personal accounts from some of the most influential chapter overviews how neuroendocrinologists inves- researchers in the field of social behaviour. Scientists tigate social traits. In Part II we selected some of the are notorious for avoiding public attention; indeed, key themes in social-behaviour research (e.g. aggres- a major