Altruism through beard chromodynamics

Vincent A. A. Jansen () and Minus van Baalen
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Vincent A. A. Jansen: University of London
Minus van Baalen: Université Pierre et Marie Curie

Nature, 2006, vol. 440, issue 7084, 663-666

Abstract: How green is your beard? The evolution of altruism, especially as directed to non-kin, is an enigma of evolutionary biology. Explanations would come easier, however, if altruists were readily recognized. Arguably the simplest recognition system is a conspicuous, heritable tag. A green beard would do it. A few examples of the ‘green beard effect’ have been reported in human interactions, though beards per se and greenness tend not to feature. A problem with this explanation is the improbability of one gene encoding all three functions (altruism, tag and recognition). Based on modelling, Jansen and van Baalen identify a further problem with this theory: even if green beard genes can be selectively advantageous, altruism is unstable under previous assumptions. But, they add, the evolution of cooperation using a recognition mechanism may be more likely if many beard colours coexist.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04387

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