ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2022
The build-up of dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Spatial Differentiation Among Family Members of the Cooperatively Breeding Giant Babax Dynamically Adjusts to Temporal Fluctuations in Offspring Demand for Parental Care.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Dominance rank, facial morphology and testes size in male white-faced capuchins: evidence for pre- and post-mating competition.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- A functionalist approach to social status in social animals, humans and the dog-human community. The prestige-based social system hypothesis.Biologia futura · 2025Review
- The evolution of division of labour: preconditions and evolutionary feedback.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- The origin and maintenance of division of labour in an Indian paper wasp.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Female gorillas form highly stable dominance relationships.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Article
- Individual experience influences reconstruction of division of labour under colony disturbance in a queenless ant species.Frontiers in zoology · 2022Article
- DomArchive: a century of published dominance data.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Dominance in a socially dynamic setting: hierarchical structure and conflict dynamics in ravens' foraging groups.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The establishment and maintenance of dominance hierarchies.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Reproductive division of labour is a hallmark of eusocial insects. However, its stability can often be hampered by the potential for reproduction by otherwise sterile nest-mates. Dominance hierarchy has a crucial role in some species in regulating which individuals reproduce. Compared with those in vertebrates, the dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects tend to involve many more individuals, and should require additional selective forces unique to them. Here, we provide an overview of a series of studies on dominance hierarchies in eusocial insects. Although reported from diverse eusocial taxa, dominance hierarchies have been extensively studied in paper wasps and ponerine ants. Starting from molecular physiological attributes of individuals, we describe how the emergence of dominance hierarchies can be understood as a kind of self-organizing process through individual memory and local behavioural interactions. The resulting global structures can be captured by using network analyses. Lastly, we argue the adaptive significance of dominance hierarchies from the standpoint of sterile subordinates. Kin selection, underpinned by relatedness between nest-mates, is key to the subordinates' acceptance of their positions in the hierarchies. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.
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