Human fertility variation, size-related obstetrical performance and the evolution of sexual stature dimorphism

Guégan, Jean‐François; Teriokhin, A.T.; Thomas, Frédéric

doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1316

Cited by 43 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…A modern 6.9% rate of emergency C-sections due to cephalopelvic disproportion suggests a similar rate of death in prehistoric childbirth. This obstetric constraint could have imposed much of the stabilizing selection on brain size, severely limiting the brain's potential CVA compared to that of other organ volumes; it could have also imposed much of the directional selection for larger female body size and pelvic diameter (Correia, Balseiro, & De Areia, 2005a;Correia, Balseiro, & De Areia, 2005b;Guegen, Teriokhin, & Thomas, 2000;Tague, 2000), which increased markedly in the last 3 million years. By this birth-constraint account, the human brain's modest CVA reveals that it has been under strong stabilizing selection not to be too large -at least throughout recent evolutionary history (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of human intelligence and the coefficient of additive genetic variance in human brain size

2007

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of human intelligence and the coefficient of additive genetic variance in human brain size

2007

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“…This could have fitness consequences as body size is an important component of selective value in humans (Guégan et al 2000;Nettle 2002b;Silventoinen et al 2003). For males, it is clearly established that height is correlated with reproductive success (Pawlowski et al 2000;Mueller & Mazur 2001;Nettle 2002a).…”

Section: Evolutionary Forces Acting On the Polymorphism Of Handednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are some people left-handed? An evolutionary perspective

Llaurens

Raymond

Faurie

2008

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

156

134

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Since prehistoric times, left-handed individuals have been ubiquitous in human populations, exhibiting geographical frequency variations. Evolutionary explanations have been proposed for the persistence of the handedness polymorphism. Left-handedness could be favoured by negative frequency-dependent selection. Data have suggested that left-handedness, as the rare hand preference, could represent an important strategic advantage in fighting interactions. However, the fact that left-handedness occurs at a low frequency indicates that some evolutionary costs could be associated with left-handedness. Overall, the evolutionary dynamics of this polymorphism are not fully understood. Here, we review the abundant literature available regarding the possible mechanisms and consequences of left-handedness. We point out that hand preference is heritable, and report how hand preference is influenced by genetic, hormonal, developmental and cultural factors. We review the available information on potential fitness costs and benefits acting as selective forces on the proportion of left-handers. Thus, evolutionary perspectives on the persistence of this polymorphism in humans are gathered for the first time, highlighting the necessity for an assessment of fitness differences between right-and left-handers.

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“…The extent of dimorphism varies between populations. This was attributed to greater susceptibility of male growth to nutritional deficiencies; different ecological niches (foraging strategies) of sexes; correlation between production of a certain sex in a certain society and parental investment in children of that sex; sexual selection, leading to bigger men in populations with polygynous marriage because of intra-male competition for females, and interaction between female size and probability of birth-related complications (Rogers and Mukherjee, 1992;Guégan et al, 2000). Male and female weights are tightly correlated and dimorphism is not a simple allometric function of size.…”

Section: Modified and Extended Count's Model To Y = A + Bt + C Log(1 mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trajectories and models of individual growth

Karkach¹

2006

DemRes

132

104

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It has long been recognized that the patterns of growth play an important role in the evolution of age trajectories of fertility and mortality (Williams, 1957). Life history studies would benefit from a better understanding of strategies and mechanisms of growth, but still no comparative research on individual growth strategies has been conducted.Growth patterns and methods have been shaped by evolution and a great variety of them are observed. Two distinct patterns -determinate and indeterminate growth -are of a special interest for these studies since they present qualitatively different outcomes of evolution. We attempt to draw together studies covering growth in plant and animal species across a wide range of phyla focusing primarily on the noted qualitative features. We also review mathematical descriptions of growth, namely empirical growth curves and growth models, and discuss the directions of future research.1 Email: karkach@demogr.mpg.de http://www.demographic-research.org 347Karkach: Trajectories and models of individual growth IntroductionThe ontogenetic growth of an individual is intuitively understood to be an increase in the size of the whole organism or parts of it with age. But the very "natural" notion of growth is, in fact, very difficult to define. Living organisms are complex systems, consisting of parts that often grow at different rates and displaying different patterns. Some parts of the body may grow faster than others, some may stop growing at a certain stage while others continue to grow, and organs may grow "on demand" during regeneration. The cells of an organ may divide continuously throughout an organism's life, replacing aging cells and producing cell turn-over in the tissues; still the body size may remain constant. Growth is coordinated by a program of ontogenetic development that allows for variability in the development rates and sizes in order to adapt to environmental conditions. Size and growth rates are subject to evolutionary optimization and constraints. On the one hand, larger size usually leads to greater mating success, greater fertility, lower vulnerability to environmental hazards, and thus lower mortality. On the other, growth needs resources, and trades-off with other traits.Studies on growth and maintenance shed light on the problem of senescence. Most organisms experience cell turn-over in most tissues. Some organisms (e.g. hydra) apparently escape senescence due to a quick turn-over of cells (Martínez, 1998).Growth and body size are strongly related to other traits and fitness. Research on extant species showed a strong statistical relationship between body mass and a remarkable variety of biological features (Smith, 1996). Measures of growthGrowth as an increment in size can be measured in many different ways, each having advantages and drawbacks. An increase in mass or volume often can be measured easily, but may be only indirectly related to growth as increase in biomass. Organisms may change in content of water or fat, in mass and volume, but this i...

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Human fertility variation, size-related obstetrical performance and the evolution of sexual stature dimorphism

Cited by 43 publications

References 51 publications

The evolution of human intelligence and the coefficient of additive genetic variance in human brain size

The evolution of human intelligence and the coefficient of additive genetic variance in human brain size

Why are some people left-handed? An evolutionary perspective

Trajectories and models of individual growth

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