"Hamilton's rule" redirects here. For the physical principle, see Hamilton's principle.
The co-operative behaviour of social insects like the honey bee can be explained by kin selection.
Kin selection is a process whereby natural selection favours a trait due to its positive effects on the reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even when at a cost to the organism's own survival and reproduction.[1] Kin selection can lead to the evolution of altruistic behaviour. It is related to inclusive fitness, which combines the number of offspring produced with the number an individual can ensure the production of by supporting others (weighted by the relatedness between individuals). A broader definition of kin selection includes selection acting on interactions between individuals who share a gene of interest even if the gene is not shared due to common ancestry.[1]
Charles Darwin discussed the concept of kin selection in his 1859 book, On the Origin of Species, where he reflected on the puzzle of sterile social insects, such as honey bees, which leave reproduction to their mothers, arguing that a selection benefit to related organisms (the same "stock") would allow the evolution of a trait that confers the benefit but destroys an individual at the same time. J.B.S. Haldane in 1955 briefly alluded to the principle in limited circumstances (Haldane famously joked that he would willingly die for two brothers or eight cousins), and R.A. Fisher mentioned a similar principle even more briefly in 1930. However, it was not until 1964 that W.D. Hamilton generalised the concept and developed it mathematically (resulting in Hamilton's rule) that it began to be widely accepted. The mathematical treatment was made more elegant in 1970 due to advances made by George R. Price. The term "kin selection" was first used by John Maynard Smith in 1964.
According to Hamilton's rule, kin selection causes genes to increase in frequency when the genetic relatedness of a recipient to an actor multiplied by the benefit to the recipient is greater than the reproductive cost to the actor.[2][3] Hamilton proposed two mechanisms for kin selection. First, kin recognition allows individuals to be able to identify their relatives. Second, in viscous populations, populations in which the movement of organisms from their place of birth is relatively slow, local interactions tend to be among relatives by default. The viscous population mechanism makes kin selection and social cooperation possible in the absence of kin recognition. In this case, nurture kinship, the interaction between related individuals, simply as a result of living in each other's proximity, is sufficient for kin selection, given reasonable assumptions about population dispersal rates. Note that kin selection is not the same thing as group selection, where natural selection is believed to act on the group as a whole.
In humans, altruism is both more likely and on a larger scale with kin than with unrelated individuals; for example, humans give presents according to how closely related they are to the recipient. In other species, vervet monkeys use allomothering, where related females such as older sisters or grandmothers often care for young, according to their relatedness. The social shrimp Synalpheus regalis protects juveniles within highly related colonies.
^ abWest, S. A.; Griffin, A. S.; Gardner, A. (March 2007). "Social semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 20 (2): 415–432. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01258.x. PMID 17305808. S2CID 1792464.
^Hamilton, W. D. (1964). "The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 7 (1): 1–16. Bibcode:1964JThBi...7....1H. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4. PMID 5875341.
^Hamilton, W. D. (1964). "The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour. II". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 7 (1): 17–52. Bibcode:1964JThBi...7...17H. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90039-6. PMID 5875340.
Kinselection is a process whereby natural selection favours a trait due to its positive effects on the reproductive success of an organism's relatives...
In the 1930s, R.A. Fisher and J.B.S. Haldane proposed the concept of kinselection, a form of altruism from the gene-centered view of evolution, arguing...
to raise our children that couldn't survive without essential food. Kinselection or related inclusive fitness theory is defined as a reproductive strategy...
Look up kin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Kin usually refers to kinship and family. Kin or KIN may also refer to: Kin empires and dynasties of China...
males cluster into leks, including the hotshot, hotspot, black hole, kinselection, and predation protection hypotheses, as described below. The hotshot...
Synoeca septentrionalis is one of five species of wasps in the genus Synoeca. It is a swarm-founding wasp that is also eusocial, exhibiting complicated...
The evolutionary reasoning behind this is driven by related theories. Kinselection provides the framework for an adaptive strategy by which altruistic...
The Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) is a social insect species of the family Vespidae. It can be found in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, the island...
Vespula germanica, the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe...
William Hamilton, known for his theory of kinselection, explored many of these cases using game-theoretic models. Kin-related treatment of game contests helps...
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Ratnieks, Francis L. W.; Gyllenstrand, Niclas; Thorén, Peter A. (2001). "Colony kin structure and male production in Dolichovespula wasps" (PDF). Molecular Ecology...
anonymously donating to charity. Kinselection theory explains altruism from an evolutionary perspective. Since natural selection screens out species without...
Apis dorsata, the rock bee or giant honey bee, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia. They are typically around 17–20 mm (0.7–0.8 in) long and nests...
individuals who also carry that gene. This is variously called "kin theory", "kinselection theory" or "inclusive fitness theory". The most obvious category...
also serve in identifying the individual's species, and more importantly, kin. Kin recognition occurs because each species has a unique cuticular hydrocarbon...
of relationship between individual members of a species (e.g. as in kinselection theory). It may also be used in this specific sense when applied to...
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no inbreeding occurs. This relatedness was measured among 216 queens. No kin recognition is seen in P. occidentalis. The wasps can differentiate between...
Tetragonula carbonaria. Much of this behavior occurs due to kinselection. Kinselection allows cooperative behavior to evolve where the actor receives...
eusociality occurred either due to kinselection, proposed by W. D. Hamilton, or by the competing theory of multilevel selection as proposed by E.O. Wilson and...
are only produced when the colony contains one queen. In a study on kinselection and relatedness the worker wasps were considerably more related to the...
for kin recognition is a role in kinselection. There is debate over this, since in strict theoretical terms kin recognition is not necessary for kin selection...
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relationships and cooperation. Inclusive fitness theory (and the related kinselection theory) are general theories in evolutionary biology that propose a...
Andreniformis in a queenless nest because they have recognition and kinselection, while A. Andreniformis does not. However, when a queen is present,...
arose from queen-laid eggs. Mating frequency is a central factor in kinselection arguments. Some cases are seen of diploid males, which are generally...
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