SOCIAL EVOLUTION 

Social groups in which some individuals forgo their own reproduction and cooperate with others present a number of paradoxes, since it is not immediately apparent how selection preserves the genes that underlie non-breeding strategies. While this question has usually been investigated in birds, mammals and social insects, new advances have been made by studying coral reef fishes. We are currently working to tackle the questions of how and why complex groups form in coral reef fishes using molecular approaches, long-term field experiments, and theoretical modeling.