Issues

Summary: Diverse genetic conflicts shape a myriad of biological processes, from host–pathogen interactions to successful inheritance of chromosomes. Despite this diversity, common evolutionary and biochemical principles may dictate the course of the majority of these conflicts.

Summary: To avoid misleading conclusions, the study of microbial social behavior must be grounded in ecology and account for eco-evolutionary feedback. Recent developments may facilitate this experimentally and inform theoretical frameworks.

Summary: We review recent developments in machine vision for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior that have changed the scale and resolution with which we can dissect interactions between animals.

Summary: We highlight studies that exploited computational tools and the genetic accessibility and rich social life of Drosophila melanogaster to reveal molecular and neuronal determinants of social networks and collective behavior.

Summary: We explore the relationship between life history, phylogeny and social communication of the Drosophila genus.

Summary: Morphological castes in ants vary as a function of size, which has far-reaching consequences for caste development and evolution.

Summary: Termite queens conditionally use sexual and asexual reproduction, where queens produce neotenic queens by parthenogenesis but use sexual reproduction to produce other colony members.

Summary: This Review discusses how social insect colonies draw on both the cognition of their individual members and the interaction networks between these individuals to form collective cognition.

Summary: Ants and termites collectively build large nests with complex architecture. Here, we review the organisation of these structures and the mechanisms involved in their construction.

Summary: Social behaviors are linked to foraging behavior on a behavioral and mechanistic level, and we propose that modifications of feeding circuits are crucial in the evolution of social behaviors.

Summary: Animals interacting successfully use cognitive skills such as recognizing individuals, their social rank and logic as described here in a cichlid fish, and the neural bases of these skills are identified.

Summary: In this paper, we review the ways in which parents shape social behavior in offspring, in both monogamous and non-monogamous mammals.

Summary: We review recent converging studies, across birdsongs and human cultures, about how social learning adds up to a stable but rich culture.