Biology 1001A Chapter Notes - Chapter 47.14 and 47.15: Eusociality, Cultural Intelligence, Kin Selection
Document Summary
It was predicted that self-sacrificing behaviour should be directed to kin. In a colony of eusocial insects, thousands of genetically related individuals, most of them sterile workers, live and work together for the reproductive benefit of a single queen and her mate => even die for her. In eusocial insects, sex is determined genetically through haploidiploidy. The workers perform all other tasks in maintaining the hive. Female bees are diploid because they receive a set of chromosomes from each parent. Male bees are haploid because they hatch from unfertilized eggs. All of the sperm carried by a drone will be genetically identical because he has one set of chromosomes. When a queen bee mates with just one male, all of her worker offspring will inherit exactly 50% of the same alleles at least. The high degree of relatedness explains their cooperation. Workers devote their lives caring for their siblings because a few of those sibling (with.
