Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology

Patrick Kennedy; Gemma Baron; Bitao Qiu; Dalial Freitak; Heikki Helanterä; Edmund R. Hunt; Fabio Manfredini; Thomas O’Shea-Wheller; Solenn Patalano; Christopher D. Pull; Takao Sasaki; Daisy Taylor; Christopher D.R. Wyatt; Seirian Sumner

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004

Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology

Patrick Kennedy, Gemma Baron, Bitao Qiu, Dalial Freitak, Heikki Helanterä, Edmund R. Hunt, Fabio Manfredini, Thomas O’Shea-Wheller, Solenn Patalano, Christopher D. Pull, Takao Sasaki, Daisy Taylor, Christopher D.R. Wyatt, Seirian Sumner

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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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	861-872
Number of pages	12
Journal	Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume	32
Issue number	11
Early online date	9 Sept 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2017

Keywords

automated monitoring
eusociality
genomics
model organisms
social behaviour
superorganism

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Kennedy, P., Baron, G., Qiu, B., Freitak, D., Helanterä, H., Hunt, E. R., Manfredini, F., O’Shea-Wheller, T., Patalano, S., Pull, C. D., Sasaki, T., Taylor, D., Wyatt, C. D. R., & Sumner, S. (2017). Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 32(11), 861-872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004

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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.",

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AU - Helanterä, Heikki

AU - Hunt, Edmund R.

AU - Manfredini, Fabio

AU - O’Shea-Wheller, Thomas

AU - Patalano, Solenn

AU - Pull, Christopher D.

AU - Sasaki, Takao

AU - Taylor, Daisy

AU - Wyatt, Christopher D.R.

AU - Sumner, Seirian

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AB - 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.

KW - automated monitoring

KW - eusociality

KW - genomics

KW - model organisms

KW - social behaviour

KW - superorganism

U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004

DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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EP - 872

JO - Trends in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Trends in Ecology and Evolution

IS - 11

ER -

Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology

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