Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality

Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson 466, 1057–1062 (2010)10.1038/nature09205; Nowak et al. replyNowak et al. argue that inclusive fitness theory has been of little value in explaining the natural world, and that it has led to negligible progress in explaining the evolution of eusociality. However, we believe that their arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature. We will focus our comments on three general issues.

Laurent Lehmann | James A. R. Marshall | Hanna Kokko | Sylvain Gandon | Iain D. Couzin | Rufus A. Johnstone | Troy Day | Jeremy Field | Alex Kacelnik | Michel Chapuisat | Francois Rousset | Michael A. Cant | John Tooby | Leda Cosmides | Andrew Cockburn | Richard McElreath | William A. Foster | Max Reuter | Lee Alan Dugatkin | Redouan Bshary | Samir Okasha | Tom Wenseleers | Andy Gardner | Jerry A. Coyne | Paul H. Harvey | Nick Colegrave | Robert L. Curry | Pierre-Henri Gouyon | Patrick Abbot | Thomas Getty | Kazuki Tsuji | Samuel Alizon | Alan Grafen | Kim Hill | Sam P. Brown | Geoff A. Parker | Richard E. Michod | Olav Rueppell | Paul Schmid-Hempel | Susanne Foitzik | Liselotte Sundström | Leo W. Beukeboom | Eric L. Charnov | Michael A. D. Goodisman | Andrew Zink | Pekka Pamilo | Sigal Balshine | Stephen T. Emlen | Minus van Baalen | Sasha R. X. Dall | Stefano Turillazzi | Jürgen Heinze | Daniel J. Rankin | Janis L. Dickinson | Michael G. Gardner | Allen J. Moore | Stuart A. West | John Alcock | Jean-Baptiste Andre | Jes S. Pedersen | Sarah E. Reece | Regis Ferriere | Francois Balloux | Ido Pen | Kevin Foster | Jay D. Evans | Tim Clutton-Brock | Christina M. Grozinger | Denis Roze | L. Dugatkin | R. Montgomerie | A. Kacelnik | I. Couzin | E. Charnov | T. Clutton‐Brock | P. Sherman | L. Cosmides | M. West-Eberhard | A. J. Moore | K. Foster | D. Queller | D. Rankin | F. Rousset | B. Crespi | A. Gardner | S. West | D. Roze | T. Wenseleers | A. Grafen | M. Baalen | N. Burley | R. Michod | U. Mueller | T. Scott-Phillips | H. Kokko | L. Lehmann | G. Parker | J. Tooby | I. Pen | J. S. Pedersen | R. Mcelreath | R. Johnstone | N. Barton | P. Gouyon | J. André | A. Buckling | H. Reeve | J. Dickinson | J. Biernaskie | F. Balloux | P. Pamilo | R. Bshary | B. Cole | R. Kümmerli | R. Ferrière | O. Rueppell | M. Goodisman | J. Korb | J. Heinze | J. A. Marshall | M. Breed | P. Harvey | S. Emlen | J. Coyne | N. Colegrave | P. Schmid-Hempel | T. Getty | K. Hill | Claire El Mouden | A. Suarez | S. Creel | S. Balshine | S. Okasha | M. Schwarz | D. Pfennig | S. Gandon | Y. Michalakis | C. Grozinger | P. Abbot | J. Abe | J. Alcock | S. Alizon | J. Alpedrinha | M. Andersson | L. Beukeboom | T. Bilde | G. Borgia | M. Burton-Chellew | M. Cant | M. Chapuisat | A. Cockburn | R. Curry | T. Day | J. Field | S. Foitzik | W. Foster | C. Fox | J. Gadau | M. Gardner | R. Grosberg | D. Gwynne | B. Hatchwell | H. Helantera | K. R. Helms | N. Jiricny | E. Kiers | J. Komdeur | D. Kronauer | T. Linksvayer | S. Lion | Bruce Lyon | D. Mock | T. Monnin | R. Noë | S. E. Reece | M. Reuter | G. Roberts | S. Robson | Joel L. Sachs | L. Santorelli | Janet Shellmann-Sherman | D. Shuker | Jeff Smith | J. Spagna | B. Strassmann | L. Sundström | M. Taborsky | P. Taylor | G. Thompson | N. Tsutsui | K. Tsuji | S. Turillazzi | F. Úbeda | E. Vargo | Bernard Voelkl | D. Westneat | D. Wiernasz | G. Wild | R. Wrangham | A. J. Young | D. W. Zeh | J. A. Zeh | A. Zink | Ronald Noë | Ulrich G. Mueller | Mary Jane West-Eberhard | Judith Korb | Charles W. Fox | David M. Shuker | Timothy A. Linksvayer | Neil D. Tsutsui | David F. Westneat | David C. Queller | Andrew V. Suarez | Nick Barton | Yannis Michalakis | Angus Buckling | Michael Taborsky | Malte Andersson | Rolf Kümmerli | Blaine J. Cole | Bernard Crespi | Ronald Noë | Thibaud Monnin | Jun Abe | Joao A. C. Alpedrinha | Jay M. Biernaskie | Trine Bilde | Gerald Borgia | Michael Breed | Sam Brown | Nancy T. Burley | Max N. Burton-Chellew | Scott Creel | Jay Evans | Juergen Gadau | Rick Grosberg | Darryl Gwynne | Ben J. Hatchwell | Heikki Helantera | Ken R. Helms | Natalie Jiricny | E. Toby Kiers | Jan Komdeur | Daniel Kronauer | Sébastien Lion | Bruce Lyon | Douglas Mock | Robert Montgomerie | David Pfennig | Hudson K. Reeve | Gilbert Roberts | Simon K. A. Robson | Lorenzo Santorelli | Michael P. Schwarz | Tom Scott-Phillips | Janet Shellmann-Sherman | Paul W. Sherman | Jeff Smith | Joseph C. Spagna | Beverly Strassmann | Peter Taylor | Graham Thompson | Francisco Úbeda | Edward L. Vargo | Bernard Voelkl | Diane C. Wiernasz | Geoff Wild | Richard Wrangham | Andrew J. Young | David W. Zeh | Jeanne A. Zeh | K. Helms | Andrew G. Zink | C. E. Mouden | K. Hill

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