Quantitative Genetics of Social Behavior

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Title: Quantitative Genetics of Social BehaviorPI: Penelope F. Kukuk Social behavior is found in all types of organisms and is a characteristicof ecologically dominant species. The study of how social evolution cameabout has concentrated on selection. To date, theoretical andempirical work has focused on how group life and social cooperation influencesurvival and reproduction. This work began in the nineteen sixties andcontinues today. The other side of the evolutionary coin, the study of thegenetic mechanisms underlying social cooperation, has been neglected. Evenin the social Hymenoptera there is very little information concerning themost basic issues. It is not known to what extent differences in socialbehaviors among individuals in a species are based on differences in theirgenetic makeup. In species where females all have the potential to becompetent reproductives, we do not know if there are enough geneticdifferences between individuals underlying any given social behavior tosuggest that the behavior has the potential to evolve. Due to this lack ofknowledge it is not possible to predict the evolutionary trajectory ofsocial behaviors or to examine how inheritance of a suite of sociallyrelevant traits may be correlated. This one-sided approach to socialevolution is based on methodological constraints. Appropriate socialspecies have neither the large reproductive output nor the ease inlaboratory rearing needed to use the powerful methodology of quantitativegenetic research, a methodology that can best address these questions. Thislimitation is changing. Due to new but well tested methods for obtaininginformation rich genetic fingerprints for individuals, based on multiplehighly variable marker genes such as microsatellites, in combination withconceptual and statistical advances it is now possible to apply the methodsof quantitative genetics to social behavior in a field setting for the firsttime. A collaboration between a quantitative geneticist (Allen Moore) and abehavioral ecologist (Penny Kukuk) will apply new methodologies in a fieldbased quantitative genetic study of social behaviors for a group livinghalictine bee species Lasioglossum (Chilalictus) hemichalceum. Thiscommunal species, in which all group members reproduce, is an ideal speciesfor such a study. In this species, individuals differ from one another insocial behaviors and microsatellite markers are available to produce precisegenetic fingerprints for individuals. Information on similaritiesbetween individuals in their microsatellite based genetic fingerprintsand easily observed social behaviors will be used to determine components ofinheritance for a suite of behavioral characteristics that are known to haveimportant effects on survival and reproduction. The research will pioneerthe quantitative genetic study of social behavior and pioneer the use ofquantitative genetic methodology for behavioral traits in a natural setting.