Understanding the biology of social groups is a central research problem in
neurobehavioral biology. It requires a combination of genetic, biochemical,
physiological, and behavioral approaches. Recent research on Drosophila sociality,
from my lab and others, has emphasized the role of social context on a wide range of
phenomena, extending from gene expression to mating to decision making. I will
discuss how we use a social network approach to understand the role of social
organization on species segregation and the genetic contributions to social structure
in Drosophila social groups. Adding a social biology perspective to questions across
various biological fields is essential to fully understanding the biology of all organisms
and promises to reveal novel insights arising from group-level behavior.