Patrick Abbot, associate professor of biological sciences, recently published an edited volume entitled Comparative Social Evolution, an update of and companion book to E.O. Wilson’s famous 1975 tome, Sociobiology.
Abbot, working with Columbia University’s Dustin Rubenstein, synthesizes the major features of social diversity on Earth in a cohesive and comparative manner. Various chapters—written by leading scientists in the field of social evolution—describe the life history, demography and ecology of complex social organisms, allowing readers to learn about the key traits that define altruistic societies.
One reviewer wrote: “Comparative Social Evolution is poised to be a one-stop destination for almost anything you want to know about animal social evolution.”
“I think our book represents a major step towards synthesizing our understanding of social behavior across the animal kingdom. As social creatures ourselves, this is something we all can appreciate,” Abbot said.
The book is available from Cambridge University Press.