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Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality

Abstract

Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson Nature 466, 1057–1062 (2010)10.1038/nature09205; Nowak et al. reply

Nowak et al.1 argue that inclusive fitness theory has been of little value in explaining the natural world, and that it has led to negligible progress in explaining the evolution of eusociality. However, we believe that their arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature. We will focus our comments on three general issues.

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All authors contributed to the planning, writing and/or revising of this paper. Several others who contributed significantly are not listed because they are named on separate comments.

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Correspondence to Stuart A. West.

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Competing financial interests: declared none.

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Abbot, P., Abe, J., Alcock, J. et al. Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality. Nature 471, E1–E4 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09831

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