Kin Recognition

Kin recognition - the differential treatment of kin and non-kin by an individual within a species - is one of the most interesting and quickly developing topics in modern biology. Researchers have been astonished and fascinated to discover the sophistication and subtlety of the ways individuals in even simple species, distinguish not only kin from non-kin, but also siblings, half-siblings and cousins. In many cases these forms of social behaviour appear to enhance the survival of the group rather than the individual and it is a matter of considerable sociological interest to establish how far such altruistic behaviour is the result of genetically determined traits, and how far it is learnt. Research on this subject is necessarily widely spread across many taxa and many disciplines. This edited collection of papers from academics gives an overview of the whole field, presenting (in some cases, original) research on all the major animal groups which have been studied. It pays particular attention to general methodology and to the specific methods employed in experimental work, but its main strength concerns its treatment of concepts.
These are clearly presented and are evaluated from the different points of view of various contributors. Some concepts, especially that of nepotism (the favouring of kin) emerge with greatly enhanced significance.