Social environment: Trait, context and agent for selection in a meta?population

In Focus: Formica, V., Donald, H., Marti, Irgebay, Z., Brodie III, E. Social network position experiences more variable selection than weaponry in wild subpopulations of forked fungus beetles. Journal Animal Ecology, 90, 168–182, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13322. That social traits can exhibit consistent-individual differences among individuals and confer a fitness benefit or cost is increasingly well-established. However, how selection—natural sexual—affects those at what scale remains an open question. this Special Feature, Formica colleagues employ meta-population beetles to test contrast whether sexual on contrasted morphological occurs the local (soft) global (hard) scales. The authors demonstrate that are largely under hard directional positive selection, whereas soft selection. findings compelling raise interesting discussion multi-level evolution meta-population.