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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 2004 Aug 7;271(Suppl 5):S310–S312. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0159

Tragedy of the commons in Melipona bees.

Tom Wenseleers 1, Francis L W Ratnieks 1
PMCID: PMC1810046  PMID: 15504003

Abstract

In human society selfish use of common resources can lead to disaster, a situation known as the 'tragedy of the commons' (TOC). Although a TOC is usually prevented by coercion, theory predicts that close kinship ties can also favour reduced exploitation. We test this prediction using data on a TOC occurring in Melipona bee societies.

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Selected References

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Supplementary Materials

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15504003supp.pdf (202.8KB, pdf)

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