Hamilton's rule and the causes of social evolution

Abstract

Hamilton's rule is a central theorem of inclusive fitness (kin selection) theory and predicts that social behaviour evolves under specific combinations of relatedness, benefit and cost. This review provides evidence for Hamilton's rule by presenting novel syntheses of results from two kinds of study in diverse taxa, including cooperatively breeding birds and mammals and eusocial insects. These are, first, studies that empirically parametrize Hamilton's rule in natural populations and, second, comparative phylogenetic analyses of the genetic, life-history and ecological correlates of sociality. Studies parametrizing Hamilton's rule are not rare and demonstrate quantitatively that (i) altruism (net loss of direct fitness) occurs even when sociality is facultative, (ii) in most cases, altruism is under positive selection via indirect fitness benefits that exceed direct fitness costs and (iii) social behaviour commonly generates indirect benefits by enhancing the productivity or survivorship of kin. Comparative phylogenetic analyses show that cooperative breeding and eusociality are promoted by (i) high relatedness and monogamy and, potentially, by (ii) life-history factors facilitating family structure and high benefits of helping and (iii) ecological factors generating low costs of social behaviour. Overall, the focal studies strongly confirm the predictions of Hamilton's rule regarding conditions for social evolution and their causes.

Keywords: altruism; comparative phylogenetic analysis; inclusive fitness; kin selection; relatedness; social evolution.

Figure 1.

Hamilton's rule has been tested in a wide range contexts and organisms, including egg dumping, joining behaviour, cannibalism and cooperative lekking in, respectively (a–d): (a) Egg-plant lace bug, Gargaphia solani (image credit: copyright 2013 www.Croar.net); (b) Polistine wasp, Polistes dominulus (image credit: Andrew Bourke); (c) Tiger salamander larva, Ambystoma tigrinum (image credit: Kerry Matz) and (d) Wild turkey, Meleagris galloparvo (image credit: Tim Simos/National Wild Turkey Federation).