Deconstructing Superorganisms and Societies to Address Big Questions in Biology

Gemma Baron, Fabio Manfredini, Christopher Pull

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)861–872
Number of pages12
JournalTrends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume32
Issue number11
Early online date9 Sept 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017

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