Making progress in genetic kin recognition among vertebrates

Making progress in genetic kin recognition among vertebrates

A recent study in BMC Evolutionary Biology has shown that genetically similar individual ring-tailed lemurs are also more similar in their scent composition, suggesting a possible mechanism of kin recognition. Theoretical and experimental studies reveal challenges ahead in achieving a true systems-level understanding of this process and its outcomes.

Kin recognition in rattlesnakes.

Snakes are often regarded as the least social of all vertebrate groups, but this assumption stems from the fact that they are secretive and difficult to observe in nature, rather than direct evidence. Recent studies have revealed a surprising degree of social complexity in snakes. Here, I examine the ability of captive-raised timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) to recognize siblings by meas...

Kin recognition in plants?

Social Evolution: The Decline and Fall of Genetic Kin Recognition

Animals should benefit from the ability to recognise their kin, yet curiously this faculty is often absent. New theory confirms that genetic kin recognition is inherently unstable, explaining its rarity.

Breeding together: kin selection and mutualism in cooperative vertebrates.

In cooperatively breeding vertebrates, nonbreeding helpers raise young produced by dominant breeders. Although the evolution of cooperative breeding has often been attributed primarily to kin selection (whereby individuals gain "indirect" benefits to their fitness by assisting collateral relatives), there is increasing evidence that helpers can be unrelated to the young they are raising. Recent...