| Social Evolution in Ants Biologists since Darwin have been intrigued and confounded by the complex issues involved in the evolution and ecology of the social behavior of insects. The self-sacrifice of sterile workers in ant colonies has been particularly difficult for evolutionary biologists to explain. In this important new book, Andrew Bourke and Nigel Franks not only present a detailed overview of the current state of scientific knowledge about social evolution in ants, but also show how studies on ants have contributed to an understanding of many fundamental topics in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology. Andrew Bourke is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology of the Zoological Society of London. Nigel Franks is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, England. |