Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8878438 | Current Opinion in Insect Science | 2018 | 17 Pages |
Abstract
Nutrition is thought to be a major driver of social evolution, yet empirical support for this hypothesis is scarce. Here we illustrate how conceptual advances in nutritional ecology illuminate some of the mechanisms by which nutrition mediates social interactions in insects. We focus on experiments and models of nutritional geometry and argue that they provide a powerful means for comparing nutritional phenomena across species exhibiting various social ecologies. This approach, initially developed to study the nutritional behaviour of individual insects, has been increasingly used to study insect groups and societies, leading to the emerging field of social nutrition. We discuss future directions for exploring how these nutritional mechanisms may influence major social transitions in insects and other animals.
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Authors
Mathieu Lihoreau, Tamara Gómez-Moracho, Cristian Pasquaretta, James T Costa, Jerome Buhl,