integrative organismal biology in a changing world

We seek to understand how the environment—both social and ecological—influences behavior through empirical studies that combine ecology and evolution with those of underlying molecular, physiological, and neural mechanisms. Our work is grounded in mathematical theory, and we use modeling and comparative approaches to generate and test novel hypotheses. We emphasize studies of cooperative breeding and the evolution of complex societies, but we also study a variety of behaviors ranging from parental care to mate choice. We study terrestrial vertebrate and invertebrates (birds, reptiles, mammals and insects) on every continent except Antarctica, as well as marine organisms (crustaceans). 

Although our primary focus is on the causes and consequences of sociality, we also study the evolutionary responses and behavioral, physiological and molecular adaptations that both social and non-social organisms use to cope with environmental change. To achieve this, we examine how the ecological and social environment influences the genotype, phenotype, and ultimately fitness. We take an evolutionary perspective in considering how environmental fluctuation has shaped genetic and phenotypic variation within populations and species, but we also think about the environmentally-responsive portions of the genome (epigenetic variation) and phenome (hormonal and behavioral variation) to study how plasticity evolves. 

By studying species living in environments that have experienced climatic variability for generations, we explore not only how animals cope with ecological stressors and have adapted over evolutionary time to deal with unpredictable environmental changes, but also how organisms are likely to respond to increased environmental uncertainty resulting from anthropogenic climate change. By harnessing AI to help collect, link and analyze ever more complex datasets, we can resolve complex organismal phenotypes and ask novel questions. Ultimately, our goal is to develop a synthetic understanding of how environmental change has influenced the evolution of social living and adaptive coping by taking an integrative approach to study a diversity of organisms in a range of habitats across the globe.

representative work

Earl AD, GG Carter, AG Berlinger, E Korir, SS Shah, WN Watetu and DR Rubenstein. 2025. A cryptic role for reciprocal helping in a cooperatively breeding bird. Nature 642:381-388. 

Shah SS and DR Rubenstein. 2023. Group augmentation underlies the evolution of complex sociality in the face of environmental instability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 120:e2212211120. 

Shah SS and DR Rubenstein. 2022. Prenatal environmental conditions underlie alternative reproductive tactics that drive the formation of a mixed-kin cooperative society.  Science Advances 8:eabk2220. 

Falk JJ, MS Webster and DR Rubenstein. 2021. Male-like ornamentation in female hummingbirds results from social harassment rather than sexual selection. Current Biology 31:4381-4387. 

Chak STC, SE Harris, KM Hultgren, NW Jeffrey and DR Rubenstein. 2021. Eusociality in snapping shrimps is associated with larger genomes and an accumulation of transposable elements. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 118:e2025051118. 

Tsai H-Y, DR Rubenstein, B-F Chen, M Liu, S-F Chan, Y-M Fan, D-P Chen, S-J Sun, T-N Yuan and S-F Shen. 2020. Antagonistic effects of intraspecific cooperation and interspecific competition on thermal performance. eLife 9:e57022. 

Tsai H-Y, DR Rubenstein, Y-M Fan, T-N Yuan, B-F Chen, Y Tang, I-C Chen and SF Shen. 2020. Locally-adapted reproductive photoperiodism determines population vulnerability to climate change. Nature Communications 11:1398. 

Firman RC, DR Rubenstein, JM Moran, KC Rowe and BA Buzatto. 2020. Extreme and variable climatic conditions drive the evolution of sociality in Australian rodents. Current Biology 30:691-697. 

Wu S, C-M Chang, DR Rubenstein, C-M Yang, Y-T Huang, H-H Lin, L-C Shih, S-W Chen and S-F Shen. 2019. Artificial intelligence reveals environmental constraints on colour diversity in insects. Nature Communications 10:4551