scholarly journals Kinship dynamics: patterns and consequences of changes in local relatedness

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1957) ◽  
pp. 20211129
Author(s):  
Darren P. Croft ◽  
Michael N. Weiss ◽  
Mia L. K. Nielsen ◽  
Charli Grimes ◽  
Michael A. Cant ◽  
...  

Mounting evidence suggests that patterns of local relatedness can change over time in predictable ways, a process termed kinship dynamics. Kinship dynamics may occur at the level of the population or social group, where the mean relatedness across all members of the population or group changes over time, or at the level of the individual, where an individual's relatedness to its local group changes with age. Kinship dynamics are likely to have fundamental consequences for the evolution of social behaviour and life history because they alter the inclusive fitness payoffs to actions taken at different points in time. For instance, growing evidence suggests that individual kinship dynamics have shaped the evolution of menopause and age-specific patterns of helping and harming. To date, however, the consequences of kinship dynamics for social evolution have not been widely explored. Here we review the patterns of kinship dynamics that can occur in natural populations and highlight how taking a kinship dynamics approach has yielded new insights into behaviour and life-history evolution. We discuss areas where analysing kinship dynamics could provide new insight into social evolution, and we outline some of the challenges in predicting and quantifying kinship dynamics in natural populations.

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1642) ◽  
pp. 20130362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. G. Bourke

Hamilton's rule is a central theorem of inclusive fitness (kin selection) theory and predicts that social behaviour evolves under specific combinations of relatedness, benefit and cost. This review provides evidence for Hamilton's rule by presenting novel syntheses of results from two kinds of study in diverse taxa, including cooperatively breeding birds and mammals and eusocial insects. These are, first, studies that empirically parametrize Hamilton's rule in natural populations and, second, comparative phylogenetic analyses of the genetic, life-history and ecological correlates of sociality. Studies parametrizing Hamilton's rule are not rare and demonstrate quantitatively that (i) altruism (net loss of direct fitness) occurs even when sociality is facultative, (ii) in most cases, altruism is under positive selection via indirect fitness benefits that exceed direct fitness costs and (iii) social behaviour commonly generates indirect benefits by enhancing the productivity or survivorship of kin. Comparative phylogenetic analyses show that cooperative breeding and eusociality are promoted by (i) high relatedness and monogamy and, potentially, by (ii) life-history factors facilitating family structure and high benefits of helping and (iii) ecological factors generating low costs of social behaviour. Overall, the focal studies strongly confirm the predictions of Hamilton's rule regarding conditions for social evolution and their causes.


Author(s):  
Samir Okasha

Inclusive fitness theory, originally due to W. D. Hamilton, is a popular approach to the study of social evolution, but shrouded in controversy. The theory contains two distinct aspects: Hamilton’s rule (rB > C); and the idea that individuals will behave as if trying to maximize their inclusive fitness in social encounters. These two aspects of the theory are logically separable but often run together. A generalized version of Hamilton’s rule can be formulated that is always true, though whether it is causally meaningful is debatable. However, the individual maximization claim only holds true if the payoffs from the social encounter are additive. The notion that inclusive fitness is the ‘goal’ of individuals’ social behaviour is less robust than some of its advocates acknowledge.


1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary K. Meffe

Much light can be shed on life history evolution through study of responses of organisms to chronic exposure to a novel or perturbed environment. To determine the influence of 28 yr of temporally unpredictable thermal elevation on their life history patterns, I sampled eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) from a thermally elevated (outflow from a nuclear reactor) and an ambient (farm pond) habitat in South Carolina every month for 2 yr. Fish from the artificially heated environment reproduced all year, had higher reproductive investments (higher clutch sizes and reproductive biomass), and smaller offspring than did fish from the ambient environment, which ceased reproduction from October through March, typical for natural populations of the region. Likely environmental factors responsible for these differences include unpredictable food resources, higher mortality from thermal death, and higher predation by fishes and birds in the heated waters. The extent to which these life history alterations are the result of adaptive genetic changes versus phenotypically plastic responses remains to be tested.


Author(s):  
Е.Ю. Лебедева ◽  
А.Ю. Сергеев

В статье представлены результаты археоботанических исследований в Московском Кремле и обсуждается проблема использования растений жителями города с особым акцентом на потреблении зерновой продукции. Материалы рассматриваются по двум хронологическим выборкам (XII - перв. пол. XIII в. и втор. пол. XIII - XV в.), что позволяет проследить динамику изменения археоботанических спектров. Выделяются три специфические черты, характеризующие коллекцию зерновых в Москве. Во-первых, высокая насыщенность зерном культурного слоя во-вторых, стабильно высокий показатель доли ржи на протяжении столетий (ок. 70 ) и, в-третьих, остающийся непонятным факт сокращения на 10 доли овса в поздней выборке. Последнее, по мнению авторов, противоречит логике развития города, требующей увеличения фуражных запасов для лошадей - основного транспортного средства средневековья. Авторы приходят к выводу, что при отсутствии или скудости находок экзотических растений, выступающих маркерами элитного питания в европейских городах, в средневековой Руси в этом качестве могут интерпретироваться обычные зерновые культуры, в частности - мягкая пшеница. The paper presents the results of archaeobotanical studies in the Moscow Kremlin and discusses the use of plants by the city residents with a focus on consumption of crops. The analysis is based on two chronological selections (the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries and the first half of the 13th - 15th centuries) it gives an insight into the changes over time of archaeobotanical spectra. Three specific features characterizing the crop grains in Moscow are singled out. Firstly, abundance of crop plants in the occupation layers secondly, consistently high values of the rye share in total crops throughout centuries (around 70 ) and, thirdly, the reduction in the share of oats by 10 in the later sample for some inexplicable reasons. In the view of the authors, the latter fact contradicts the logical development of the city that required increase in forage reserves for horses which was the main animal for transportation in the medieval times. The authors come to the conclusion that in the absence or scarcity of exotic plant finds used as markers of luxury food in European cities, common grain crops such as bread wheat can be used as elite food indicator in Medieval Russia.


Author(s):  
Ana Jorge ◽  
Teresa Chambel

Movies are considered an important art form, a source of entertainment, and a powerful method for educating, having great power to affect us, perceptually, cognitively, and emotionally. A huge amount of movies and related information are becoming increasingly available due to technological advances, demanding new and more powerful ways to search, browse, and view this interesting but complex information space that changes over time. Time-oriented visualization can help to capture, express, understand, and effectively navigate movies over time: both the time when they were released, or viewed, and the time along which their contents are weaved, in each movie. This paper presents the design and evaluation of the authors' work towards the inclusion of the time dimension in 2D and 3D visualizations, based on colors and tag clouds, at the movies space level, and down to the individual movies in an interactive Web application to access, explore, and visualize movies based on the information conveyed in the different tracks or perspectives of its content, especially audio and subtitles where most of the semantics is expressed. Moreover, it is the authors' aim to help provide insights through analytical, ludic, or artistic uses, since it is the aim of these visualizations to provide non-usual kinds of search, whether the user wants a movie to watch or to be aware of the properties in its content. The authors tested the pertinence and effectiveness of the main visualizations, and the results provided a better understanding of what is more effective and appreciated, and encouraged them to continue extending and refining their work.


1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (134) ◽  
pp. 158-166
Author(s):  
Alastair M.D Gemmell

AbstractTo determine the factors controlling natural levels of thermoluminescence (NTL) of fluvioglacially transported suspended sediment, samples were taken at hourly intervals from a meltwater stream emanating from Sólheimajökull in southern Iceland. The NTL of the samples were measured and compared with fluctuations in suspended-sediment load and in flow depth of the stream. It was found that the ratio of the 325°C and the 375°C regions of the NTL spectrum was more closely related to sediment load and flow depth than were the individual regions themselves. Analysis of the patterns suggests that NTL fluctuations are related to changes over time in the sources of sediment entrained by the stream. It is inferred that these changes relate to diurnal temperature cycles plus precipitation events. Such fluctuations raise doubts as to the validity of bulk sampling procedures in TL dating of Quaternary fluvioglacial sediments.


1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (134) ◽  
pp. 158-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair M.D Gemmell

Abstract To determine the factors controlling natural levels of thermoluminescence (NTL) of fluvioglacially transported suspended sediment, samples were taken at hourly intervals from a meltwater stream emanating from Sólheimajökull in southern Iceland. The NTL of the samples were measured and compared with fluctuations in suspended-sediment load and in flow depth of the stream. It was found that the ratio of the 325°C and the 375°C regions of the NTL spectrum was more closely related to sediment load and flow depth than were the individual regions themselves. Analysis of the patterns suggests that NTL fluctuations are related to changes over time in the sources of sediment entrained by the stream. It is inferred that these changes relate to diurnal temperature cycles plus precipitation events. Such fluctuations raise doubts as to the validity of bulk sampling procedures in TL dating of Quaternary fluvioglacial sediments.


1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Carpenter ◽  
Tara K. Scanlan

The purpose of this study was to examine whether changes over time in the determinants of sport commitment would be related to predicted changes in commitment. Male and female (N = 103) high school soccer players completed surveys toward the middle and at the end of their regular season. A simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that commitment was significantly predicted by changes in involvement opportunities. Examination of the mean magnitude of changes in the determinants and corresponding changes in commitment using a series of correlated t-tests revealed significant effects for sport enjoyment and involvement opportunities. For those players whose sport enjoyment and involvement opportunities had declined, there was a corresponding decrease in their commitment. For those players whose involvement opportunities had increased, there was a corresponding increase in their commitment. Combined, these results provided support for a priori hypotheses regarding changes in the determinants of commitment over time and corresponding changes in commitment.


1991 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek A. Swain

The present study involved three in-depth interviews with 10 informants who had voluntarily withdrawn from hockey, horse racing, football, and racquet-ball. The personal histories of the informants were examined for diversity and commonality of experience. A synthesized description of career change experience was written as a general story, identifying a sequence of experiential units that reflect the shifts in focus within the common experience. The general story indicated that withdrawal from sport was not simply an event but a process that began soon after the athletes became engaged in their career. This study supports and extends a model proposed by Schlossberg (1984) which attempts to account for diversity in the experience of transitions. The model is considered helpful in developing an understanding of the process of a transitional experience such as retirement from sport, considering the context in which the experience takes place, the meaning it has for the individual, and how it changes over time.


2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (14) ◽  
pp. 7195-7203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Görzer ◽  
Christian Guelly ◽  
Slave Trajanoski ◽  
Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl

ABSTRACT In lung transplant patients undergoing immunosuppression, more than one human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genotype may emerge during follow-up, and this could be critical for the outcome of HCMV infection. Up to now, many cases of infection with multiple HCMV genotypes were probably overlooked due to the limitations of the current genotyping approaches. We have now analyzed mixed-genotype infections in 17 clinical samples from 9 lung transplant patients using the highly sensitive ultradeep-pyrosequencing (UDPS) technology. UDPS genotyping was performed at three variable HCMV genes, coding for glycoprotein N (gN), glycoprotein O (gO), and UL139. Simultaneous analysis of a mean of 10,430 sequence reads per amplicon allowed the relative amounts of distinct genotypes in the samples to be determined down to 0.1% to 1% abundance. Complex mixtures of up to six different HCMV genotypes per sample were observed. In all samples, no more than two major genotypes accounted for at least 88% of the HCMV DNA load, and these were often accompanied by up to four low-abundance genotypes at frequencies of 0.1% to 8.6%. No evidence for the emergence of new genotypes or sequence changes over time was observed. However, analysis of different samples withdrawn from the same patients at different time points revealed that the relative levels of replication of the individual HCMV genotypes changed within a mixed-genotype population upon reemergence of the virus. Our data show for the first time that, similar to what has been hypothesized for the murine model, HCMV reactivation in humans seems to occur stochastically.


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