Makmiller Pedroso (Towson University)
Groups can dynamically respond to multiple types of environmental cues, such as disturbance events, even when they are composed by 'simple' microbial cells. The theory of group selection provides a useful account of how groups shape social evolution, but it omits how environmental factors cause fitness differences between individuals. This paper proposes that the concept of threshold effects is particularly useful in explaining how certain groups respond to environmental cues. Accordingly, combining group selection with the concept of threshold effects yields a more complete picture of how group living impacts evolution.
