Recent studies show that at many levels of biological organization, mechanisms have evolved to prevent potential conflict in natural selection. Editor Laurent Keller's aim in this book is to bring together the leading researchers from all biological disciplines to outline these potential conflicts and discuss how they are resolved. A multi level approach of this kind allows important insights into the evolution of life, as well as bridging the long standing conceptual chasm between molecular and organismal biologists.
Acknowledgments ix Contributors xi 1 Levels of Selection: Burying the Units-of-Selection Debate and Unearthing the Crucial New Issues H. Kern Reeve and Laurent Keller 3 2 Levels of Selection, Potential Conflicts, and Their Resolution: The Role of the "Common Good" Egbert Giles Leigh, Jr. 15 3 The First Replicators Eors Szathmary 31 4 Individuality, Immortality, and Sex Richard E. Michod 53 5 Sexual Conflict in Animals Catherine M. Lessells 75 6 Parent-Offspring Conflict H. Charles J. Godfray 100 7 Intragenomic Conflict Andrew Pomiankowski 121 8 Dynamics of Conflicts within Insect Societies Laurent Keller and H. Kern Reeve 153 9 Complexity in Vertebrate Societies Dawn M. Kitchen and Craig Packer 176 10 Conflict and Cooperation in Human Societies John Maynard Smith 197 11 Laws Governing Species Interactions? Encouragement and Caution from Figs and Their Associates Edward Allen Herre 209 12 Lineage Selection: Natural Selection for Longterm Benefit Leonard Nunney 238 Literature Cited 253 Author Index 301 Subject Index 315