Journal article
The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation
- Abstract:
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The last 30 years have seen major advances in our understanding of the evolution of cooperation—traits that have evolved because of the benefit they provide other individuals. In contrast, we have been much less successful in determining the consequences of cooperation for long-term ecological and evolutionary change. Studies of birds, insects, and bacteria suggest that cooperation has major consequences for fundamental features of life, such as ecological niche range, genetic variation within species, and rates of species diversification. However, the role of cooperation in driving these changes is largely limited to hypotheses, as we lack both data and a general theoretical framework. We synthesize the progress that has been made and highlight the major gaps in our understanding for future study.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 706.7KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1086/739292
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- 834164
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- Journal:
- American Naturalist More from this journal
- Volume:
- 207
- Issue:
- 4
- Pages:
- 467-482
- Publication date:
- 2026-02-12
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-08-26
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1537-5323
- ISSN:
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0003-0147
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2352044
- Local pid:
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pubs:2352044
- Deposit date:
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2026-03-02
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- The University of Chicago
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- © 2026 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies. Published by The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of Naturalists.
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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