Ecology and Evolution of Altruism

Altruism is the phenomenon in which one organism helps another organism at a cost to itself. Most of the existing body of research on the evolution of altruism does not account for the ecological context and impacts of the evolution of altruistic traits. In this course we will examine experiments, field studies, and mathematical models on the ecology and evolution of altruism. Students will learn the foundational theories for why altruism evolves, learn how to assess existing models based on whether they are testable and generalizable, and predict how altruistic behaviors shape and are shaped by ecological interactions. This course is open to theoreticians and empiricists.