On the evolution, life history, and proximate mechanisms of human male reproductive senescence

Bribiescas, Richard G.

doi:10.1002/evan.20087

Cited by 74 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“…We predicted that, given that higher ranking males should be experiencing persistent authority challenges during these periods to which they may experience endocrine surges, they should also have more variable levels of both hormones. We predicted that older adult males would exhibit reduced androgen levels, consistent with data from humans (Ellison et al 2002; Bribiescas 2006), chacma baboons and gelada (Beehner et al 2009) and mouse lemurs (Aujard and Perret 1998). …”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

The endocrinology of male rhesus macaque social and reproductive status: a test of the challenge and social stress hypotheses

Higham

Heistermann

Maestripieri

2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Social status primarily determines male mammalian reproductive success, and hypotheses on the endocrinology of dominance have stimulated unprecedented investigation of its costs and benefits. Under the challenge hypothesis, male testosterone levels rise according to competitive need, while the social stress hypothesis predicts glucocorticoid (GC) rises in high ranking individuals during social unrest. Periods of social instability in group-living primates, primarily in baboons, provide evidence for both hypotheses, but data on social instability in seasonally-breeding species with marked social despotism but lower reproductive skew are lacking. We tested these hypotheses in seasonally-breeding rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. We documented male fecal GC and androgen levels over a 10 month period in relation to rank, age, natal status and group tenure length, including during a socially unstable period in which coalitions of lower-ranked males attacked higher-ranked males. Androgen but not GC levels rose during the mating season; older males had lower birth season levels but underwent a greater inter-season rise than younger males. Neither endocrine measure was related to rank except during social instability, when higher ranked individuals had higher and more variable levels of both. High ranking male targets had the highest GC levels of all males when targeted, and also had high and variable GC and androgen levels across the instability period. Our results provide evidence for both the challenge and social stress hypotheses.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 78%

The endocrinology of male rhesus macaque social and reproductive status: a test of the challenge and social stress hypotheses

Higham

Heistermann

Maestripieri

2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…Even if a grandfather’s fertility remains unchanged, his reproductive success is expected to drop for several reasons as fertility is just one (necessary) component of reproductive success:

The menopause of the grandmother denies the grandfather the most obvious reproductive opportunity.

It is probable that grandfathers will not be as successful as young males in the competition for younger females (i.e., they will enjoy fewer mating opportunities).

Even if the grandfather is successful in mating, the child might not be counted as his child, thus it requires no further resources from the grandfather, which in turn implies the grandfather will be free to provide care for his (official) grandchildren.

Older men are also more prone to cuckoldry [44]. Bribiescas [44] concludes in a review on male reproductive senescence that “while the physiological potential for fathering offspring remains intact well into the later stages of a male’s life, somatic degradation that results in a decline in attractiveness, sexual motivation, energy availability, and a compromised ability to acquire resources may indeed result in a form of male reproductive senescence that severely restricts male fitness at older ages” (p. 138). Overall, most elderly males will be forced out of reproduction, either because of the loss of fertility or because of the loss of mating opportunities; hence, our arguments as presented for grandmothers apply to grandfathers as well.

…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Older men are also more prone to cuckoldry [44]. Bribiescas [44] concludes in a review on male reproductive senescence that “while the physiological potential for fathering offspring remains intact well into the later stages of a male’s life, somatic degradation that results in a decline in attractiveness, sexual motivation, energy availability, and a compromised ability to acquire resources may indeed result in a form of male reproductive senescence that severely restricts male fitness at older ages” (p. 138).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bribiescas [44] concludes in a review on male reproductive senescence that “while the physiological potential for fathering offspring remains intact well into the later stages of a male’s life, somatic degradation that results in a decline in attractiveness, sexual motivation, energy availability, and a compromised ability to acquire resources may indeed result in a form of male reproductive senescence that severely restricts male fitness at older ages” (p. 138). Overall, most elderly males will be forced out of reproduction, either because of the loss of fertility or because of the loss of mating opportunities; hence, our arguments as presented for grandmothers apply to grandfathers as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Caring for parents: an evolutionary rationale

Garay¹,

Számadó²,

Varga³

et al. 2018

BMC Biol

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BackgroundThe evolutionary roots of human moral behavior are a key precondition to understanding human nature. Investigations usually start with a social dilemma and end up with a norm that can provide some insight into the origin of morality. We take the opposite direction by investigating whether the cultural norm that promotes helping parents and which is respected in different variants across cultures and is codified in several religions can spread through Darwinian competition.ResultsWe show with a novel demographic model that the biological rule “During your reproductive period, give some of your resources to your post-fertile parents” will spread even if the cost of support given to post-fertile grandmothers considerably decreases the demographic parameters of fertile parents but radically increases the survival rate of grandchildren. The teaching of vital cultural content is likely to have been critical in making grandparental service valuable. We name this the Fifth Rule, after the Fifth Commandment that codifies such behaviors in Christianity.ConclusionsSelection for such behavior may have produced an innate moral tendency to honor parents even in situations, such as those experienced today, when the quantitative conditions would not necessarily favor the maintenance of this trait.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12915-018-0519-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Human females are semelgametogenic, a trait they share with all other female mammals and birds (Bribiescas 2006), and human oocyte production occurs largely prior to birth (but see (White et al 2012) with the number of egg cells peaking during the fifth month of gestation. Thereafter, due to atresia (a form of apoptosis, or programmed cell death) the population of oocytes decreases to roughly two million at birth, and 400,000 at puberty.…”

Section: The Process Of Menopause and Its Relationship To Postmenopaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Postmenopausal Health and Disease from the Perspective of Evolutionary Medicine

Froehle

2013

A&A

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Anyone seeking to learn more about the subject of menopause 1 will find standard clinical and public health policy interpretations readily and prominently available. A simple Internet search for the word "menopause" returns numerous websites from reputable online medical resources 2 , all of which provide roughly the same, narrow definition: menopause is the complete cessation of menstruation, and occurs twelve months after the final menstrual period, usually between 45-55 years of age. Along with these definitions, much of the accompanying health information addresses symptoms, risk for associated diseases, and treatment options. This information fits the overall medical paradigm that menopause is not simply Epidemiological evidence indeed shows that the period surrounding and following menopause is associated with an increased prevalence of disease and disease risk factors, particularly those relating to the metabolic syndrome including weight gain, body composition change, obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance, all of which increase risk for heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes (Torrens et al. 2009;Enns and Tiidus 2010). In the AbstractMenopause normally occurs between 45-55 years of age, marks the end of a woman's reproductive lifespan, and is accompanied by a reduction in estrogen that has substantial physiological effects. The standard medical view is that these changes underlie high postmenopausal disease rates, defining menopause as an estrogen deficiency condition needing treatment. This view stems from the idea that extended postmenopausal longevity is a consequence of recent technological developments, such that women now outlive their evolutionarily-programmed physiological functional lifespan. Increasingly, however, researchers employing an evolutionary medicine framework have used data from comparative demography, comparative biology, and human behavioral ecology to challenge the mainstream medical view. Instead, these data suggest that a two-decade human postmenopausal lifespan is an evolved, species-typical trait that distinguishes humans from other primates, and has deep roots in our evolutionary past. This view rejects the inevitability of high rates of postmenopausal disease and the concept of menopause as pathology. Rather, high postmenopausal disease risk likely stems from specific lifestyle differences between industrialized societies and foraging societies of the type that dominated human evolutionary history. Women in industrialized societies tend to have higher estrogen levels during premenopausal life, and experience a greater reduction in estrogen across menopause than do women living in foraging societies, with potentially important physiological consequences. The anthropological approach to understanding postmenopausal disease risk reframes the postmenopausal lifespan as an integral period in the human lifecycle, and offers alternative avenues for disease prevention by highlighting the importance of lifestyle effects on health.

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On the evolution, life history, and proximate mechanisms of human male reproductive senescence

Cited by 74 publications

References 91 publications

The endocrinology of male rhesus macaque social and reproductive status: a test of the challenge and social stress hypotheses

The endocrinology of male rhesus macaque social and reproductive status: a test of the challenge and social stress hypotheses

Caring for parents: an evolutionary rationale

Postmenopausal Health and Disease from the Perspective of Evolutionary Medicine

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