Jacobus Jan "Koos" Boomsma (born 1951) is a Dutch evolutionary biologist who studies

social evolution Social evolution may refer to: *Social change *Sociocultural evolution, the change of cultures and societies over time *Sociobiology, explaining social behavior in terms of evolution *Cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theor ...

and the evolution of

mating systems A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mating, mate under which circumstances. Reco ...

Education

Boomsma obtained an MSc and PhD degree in biology in 1976 and 1982 at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public university, public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in ...

Career

Boomsma directs the Centre of Social Evolution and works as a professor of biology at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. He had done important work on ants of the genus ''Atta''. He is known most recently for the monogamy hypothesis, which states that strict lifetime monogamy enabled the evolution of

eusociality Eusociality ( Greek 'good' and social) is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations wit ...

in the

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

(bees, ants, wasps, etc.).Boomsma, J. (2007) Kin selection versus sexual selection: why the ends do not meet. Current Biology 17:R673-R683.Boomsma, J. (2009) Lifetime monogamy and the evolution of eusociality. Phil. Trans. of the Royal Society, B Series 364:3191-3208. He has also lent influential contributions to the fields of mutualisms and

sexual conflict Sexual conflict or sexual antagonism occurs when the two sexes have conflicting optimal fitness (biology), fitness strategies concerning reproduction, particularly over the mode and frequency of mating, potentially leading to an evolutionary arms ...

and heads research programmes in

evolutionary medicine Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine is the application of modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease. Modern biomedical research and practice have focused on the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying hea ...

, invasive social syndromes and fungal agriculture. He is a research associate at the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, ) is located in Panama and is the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States. It is dedicated to understanding the past, present, and future of tropical ecosyst ...

in Panama.

References

1951 births Living people Dutch biologists Evolutionary biologists Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen {{biologist-stub