The evolution of sociality

Understanding the evolutionary processes involved in the emergence of higher levels of

organization remains one of the biggest challenges in evolutionary biology. The evolution of

eusociality in insects is one of those major transitions in evolution. Eusocial systems have been studied from two clearly different perspectives; evolution and self-organization. However, little work has been done to join both approaches in a single framework. It is the aim of this project to be the foundation of that union. For this, the project will involve self-organization models to understand the benefits and costs of participation in a eusocial colony. It will approach from an evolutionary perspective the emergence of characteristics that allow individuals to be part of a self-organizing entity. The specific aims of the project are: to develop a theoretical framework for insect cooperative breeding, get predictions on what kind of individual decision-making mechanisms facilitate self-organizing patters of division of labour and coordinated behaviour.