Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology

Social insect societies are long-standing models for understanding social behaviour and evolution. Unlike other advanced biological societies (such as the multicellular body), the component parts of social insect societies can be easily deconstructed and manipulated. Recent methodological and theore...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kennedy, P, Baron, G, Qiu, B, Freitak, D, Helanterä, H, Hunt, ER, Manfredini, F, O'Shea-Wheller, T, Patalano, S, Pull, CD, Sasaki, T, Taylor, D, Wyatt, CDR, Sumner, S
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2017
Description
Summary:Social insect societies are long-standing models for understanding social behaviour and evolution. Unlike other advanced biological societies (such as the multicellular body), the component parts of social insect societies can be easily deconstructed and manipulated. Recent methodological and theoretical innovations have exploited this trait to address an expanded range of biological questions. We illustrate the broadening range of biological insight coming from social insect biology with four examples. These new frontiers promote open-minded, interdisciplinary exploration of one of the richest and most complex of biological phenomena: sociality.