On the evolutionary feedback between genes and their extended effects in dispersal-limited groups where ecological (or cultural) inheritance is non-random within groups

AbstractOrganisms continuously modify their living conditions via extended genetic effects on their environment, microbiome, and in some species culture. These effects can impact the fitness of current but also future conspecifics due to non-genetic transmission via ecological or cultural inheritance. In this case, selection on a gene with extended effects depends on the degree to which current and future genetic relatives are exposed to modified conditions. Here, we detail the selection gradient on a quantitative trait with extended effects in a patch-structured population, when gene flow between patches is limited and ecological inheritance within patches can be biased towards offspring. Such a situation is relevant to understand evolutionary driven changes in individual condition that can be preferentially transmitted from parent to offspring, such as micro-environments (e.g., nests), pathogens or microbiome, and culture. Our analysis quantifies how the interaction between limited gene flow and biased ecological inheritance influences the joint evolutionary dynamics of traits together with the conditions they modify, helping understand adaptation via non-genetic modifications. As an illustration, we apply our analysis to a gene-culture coevolution scenario in which genetically-determined learning strategies coevolve with adaptive knowledge. In particular, we show that when social learning is synergistic, selection can favour strategies that generate remarkable levels of knowledge under intermediate levels of both vertical cultural transmission and limited dispersal. More broadly, our theory yields insights into the interplay between genetic and non-genetic inheritance, with implications for how organisms evolve to transform their environments.

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Invasion fitness for gene-culture co-evolution in family-structured populations and an application to cumulative culture under vertical transmission

10.1101/102624 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Charles Mullon ◽

Laurent Lehmann

Keyword(s):

Vertical Transmission ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Structured Populations ◽

Selection Gradient ◽

Cultural Information ◽

Invasion Fitness ◽

Cumulative Cultural Evolution ◽

Multigenerational Effects ◽

Amount Of Knowledge ◽

Genetically Determined

AbstractHuman evolution depends on the co-evolution between genetically determined behaviors and socially transmitted information. Although vertical transmission of cultural information from parent to off-spring is common in hominins, its effects on cumulative cultural evolution are not fully understood. Here, we investigate gene-culture co-evolution in a family-structured population by studying the invasion fitness of a mutant allele that influences a deterministic level of cultural information (e.g., amount of knowledge or skill) to which diploid carriers of the mutant are exposed in subsequent generations. We show that the selection gradient on such a mutant, and the concomitant level of cultural information it generates, can be evaluated analytically under the assumption that the cultural dynamic has a single attractor point, thereby making gene-culture co-evolution in family-structured populations with multigenerational effects mathematically tractable. We apply our result to study how genetically determined phenotypes of individual and social learning co-evolve with the level of adaptive information they generate under vertical transmission. We find that vertical transmission increases adaptive information due to kin selection effects, but when information is transmitted as efficiently between family members as between unrelated individuals, this increase is moderate in diploids. By contrast, we show that the way resource allocation into learning trades off with allocation into reproduction (the “learning-reproduction trade-off”) significantly influences levels of adaptive information. We also show that vertical transmission prevents evolutionary branching and may therefore play a qualitative role in gene-culture co-evolutionary dynamics. More generally, our analysis of selection suggests that vertical transmission can significantly increase levels of adaptive information under the biologically plausible condition that information transmission between relatives is more efficient than between unrelated individuals.

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Evolution of individual versus social learning on social networks

Journal of The Royal Society Interface ◽

10.1098/rsif.2014.1285 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (104) ◽

pp. 20141285 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kohei Tamura ◽

Yutaka Kobayashi ◽

Yasuo Ihara

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Social Learning ◽

Social Structure ◽

Learning Strategies ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Cultural Models ◽

Average Frequency ◽

Complete Graphs

A number of studies have investigated the roles played by individual and social learning in cultural phenomena and the relative advantages of the two learning strategies in variable environments. Because social learning involves the acquisition of behaviours from others, its utility depends on the availability of ‘cultural models’ exhibiting adaptive behaviours. This indicates that social networks play an essential role in the evolution of learning. However, possible effects of social structure on the evolution of learning have not been fully explored. Here, we develop a mathematical model to explore the evolutionary dynamics of learning strategies on social networks. We first derive the condition under which social learners (SLs) are selectively favoured over individual learners in a broad range of social network. We then obtain an analytical approximation of the long-term average frequency of SLs in homogeneous networks, from which we specify the condition, in terms of three relatedness measures, for social structure to facilitate the long-term evolution of social learning. Finally, we evaluate our approximation by Monte Carlo simulations in complete graphs, regular random graphs and scale-free networks. We formally show that whether social structure favours the evolution of social learning is determined by the relative magnitudes of two effects of social structure: localization in competition, by which competition between learning strategies is evaded, and localization in cultural transmission, which slows down the spread of adaptive traits. In addition, our estimates of the relatedness measures suggest that social structure disfavours the evolution of social learning when selection is weak.

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Eco-evolutionary dynamics in metacommunities: ecological inheritance, helping within- and harming between-species

10.1101/217570 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Charles Mullon ◽

Laurent Lehmann

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Mating Systems ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Local Community ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Demographic Stochasticity ◽

Selection Gradient ◽

Predator Prey ◽

Material Resources ◽

Ecological Inheritance

AbstractUnderstanding selection on intra- and inter-specific interactions that take place in dispersal-limited communities is a challenge for ecology and evolutionary biology. The problem is that local demographic stochasticity generates eco-evolutionary dynamics that are generally too complicated to make tractable analytical investigations. Here, we circumvent this problem by approximating the selection gradient on a quantitative trait that influences local community dynamics, assuming that such dynamics are deterministic with a stable fixed point. We nonetheless incorporate unavoidable kin selection effects arising from demographic stochasticity. Our approximation reveals that selection depends on how an individual expressing a trait-change influences: (1) its own fitness and the fitness of its current relatives; and (2) the fitness of its downstream relatives through modifications of local ecological conditions (i.e., through ecological inheritance). Mathematically, the effects of ecological inheritance on selection are captured by dispersal-limited versions of press-perturbations of community ecology. We use our approximation to investigate the evolution of helping within- and harming between-species when these behaviours influence demography. We find that individually costly helping evolves more readily when intra-specific competition is for material resources rather than for space because in this case, the costs of kin competition are paid by downstream relatives. Similarly, individually costly harming between species evolves when it alleviates downstream relatives from inter-specific competition. Beyond these examples, our approximation can help better understand the influence of ecological inheritance on a variety of eco-evolutionary dynamics in metacommunities, from consumer-resource and predator-prey coevolution to selection on mating systems with demographic feedbacks.

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Cultural evolution and cultural psychology

10.31234/osf.io/7k86h ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Alex Mesoudi

Keyword(s):

Cultural History ◽

Cultural Evolution ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Cultural Psychology ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Cultural Dimensions ◽

Human Cognition ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Cultural Inheritance ◽

Human Psychology

Cultural evolution is a branch of the evolutionary sciences which assumes that (i) human cognition and behaviour is shaped not only by genetic inheritance, but also cultural inheritance (also known as social learning), and (ii) this cultural inheritance constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary system that can be analysed and studied using tools borrowed from evolutionary biology. In this chapter I explore the numerous compatibilities between the fields of cultural evolution and cultural psychology, and the potential mutual benefits from their closer alignment. First, understanding the evolutionary context within which human psychology emerged gives added significance to the findings of cultural psychologists, which reinforce the conclusion reached by cultural evolution scholars that humans inhabit a ‘cultural niche’ within which the major means of adaptation to difference environments is cultural, rather than genetic. Hence, we should not be surprised that human psychology shows substantial cross-cultural variation. Second, a focus on cultural transmission pathways, drawing on cultural evolution models and empirical research, can help to explain to the maintenance of, and potential changes in, cultural variation in psychological processes. Evidence from migrants, in particular, points to a mix of vertical, oblique and horizontal cultural transmission that can explain the differential stability of different cultural dimensions. Third, cultural evolutionary methods offer powerful means of testing historical (“macro-evolutionary”) hypotheses put forward by cultural psychologists for the origin of psychological differences. Explanations in terms of means of subsistence, rates of environmental change or pathogen prevalence can be tested using quantitative models and phylogenetic analyses that can be used to reconstruct cultural lineages. Evolutionary considerations also point to potential problems with current cross-country comparisons conducted within cultural psychology, such as the non-independence of data points due to shared cultural history. Finally, I argue that cultural psychology can play a central role in a synthetic evolutionary science of culture, providing valuable links between individual-oriented disciplines such as experimental psychology and neuroscience on the one hand, and society-oriented disciplines such as anthropology, history and sociology on the other, all within an evolutionary framework that provides links to the biological sciences.

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Craniometric data support a mosaic model of demic and cultural Neolithic diffusion to outlying regions of Europe

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.2678 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 278 (1720) ◽

pp. 2874-2880 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel ◽

Ron Pinhasi

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Complete Replacement ◽

Cultural Elements ◽

Near Eastern ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Significant Gene ◽

Transition To Agriculture ◽

Outlying Regions

The extent to which the transition to agriculture in Europe was the result of biological (demic) diffusion from the Near East or the adoption of farming practices by indigenous hunter–gatherers is subject to continuing debate. Thus far, archaeological study and the analysis of modern and ancient European DNA have yielded inconclusive results regarding these hypotheses. Here we test these ideas using an extensive craniometric dataset representing 30 hunter–gatherer and farming populations. Pairwise population craniometric distance was compared with temporally controlled geographical models representing evolutionary hypotheses of biological and cultural transmission. The results show that, following the physical dispersal of Near Eastern/Anatolian farmers into central Europe, two biological lineages were established with limited gene flow between them. Farming communities spread across Europe, while hunter–gatherer communities located in outlying geographical regions adopted some cultural elements from the farmers. Therefore, the transition to farming in Europe did not involve the complete replacement of indigenous hunter–gatherer populations despite significant gene flow from the Southwest Asia. This study suggests that a mosaic process of dispersal of farmers and their ideas was operating in outlying regions of Europe, thereby reconciling previously conflicting results obtained from genetic and archaeological studies.

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Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2017.1751 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 284 (1868) ◽

pp. 20171751 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Gillian L. Vale ◽

Emma G. Flynn ◽

Jeremy Kendal ◽

Bruce Rawlings ◽

Lydia M. Hopper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Learning ◽

Learning Strategies ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

The Difference ◽

Beneficial Traits ◽

Children’S Behaviour ◽

Social Exposure ◽

Reward Information ◽

Social Learning Strategies ◽

Exchange Behaviour

Various non-human animal species have been shown to exhibit behavioural traditions. Importantly, this research has been guided by what we know of human culture, and the question of whether animal cultures may be homologous or analogous to our own culture. In this paper, we assess whether models of human cultural transmission are relevant to understanding biological fundamentals by investigating whether accounts of human payoff-biased social learning are relevant to chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). We submitted 4- and 5-year-old children ( N = 90) and captive chimpanzees ( N = 69) to a token–reward exchange task. The results revealed different forms of payoff-biased learning across species and contexts. Specifically, following personal and social exposure to different tokens, children's exchange behaviour was consistent with proportional imitation, where choice is affected by both prior personally acquired and socially demonstrated token–reward information. However, when the socially derived information regarding token value was novel, children's behaviour was consistent with proportional observation; paying attention to socially derived information and ignoring their prior personal experience. By contrast, chimpanzees' token choice was governed by their own prior experience only, with no effect of social demonstration on token choice, conforming to proportional reservation. We also find evidence for individual- and group-level differences in behaviour in both species. Despite the difference in payoff strategies used, both chimpanzees and children adopted beneficial traits when available. However, the strategies of the children are expected to be the most beneficial in promoting flexible behaviour by enabling existing behaviours to be updated or replaced with new and often superior ones.

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Steering eco-evolutionary game dynamics with manifold control

Proceedings of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspa.2019.0643 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 476 (2233) ◽

pp. 20190643 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xin Wang ◽

Zhiming Zheng ◽

Feng Fu

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Replicator Dynamics ◽

Evolutionary Game ◽

Feedback Loops ◽

Mathematical Framework ◽

Stable Manifolds ◽

Selection Gradient ◽

Game Dynamics ◽

Control Approach ◽

Attraction Basin

Feedback loops between population dynamics of individuals and their ecological environment are ubiquitously found in nature and have shown profound effects on the resulting eco-evolutionary dynamics. By incorporating linear environmental feedback law into the replicator dynamics of two-player games, recent theoretical studies have shed light on understanding the oscillating dynamics of the social dilemma. However, the detailed effects of more general nonlinear feedback loops in multi-player games, which are more common especially in microbial systems, remain unclear. Here, we focus on ecological public goods games with environmental feedbacks driven by a nonlinear selection gradient. Unlike previous models, multiple segments of stable and unstable equilibrium manifolds can emerge from the population dynamical systems. We find that a larger relative asymmetrical feedback speed for group interactions centred on cooperators not only accelerates the convergence of stable manifolds but also increases the attraction basin of these stable manifolds. Furthermore, our work offers an innovative manifold control approach: by designing appropriate switching control laws, we are able to steer the eco-evolutionary dynamics to any desired population state. Our mathematical framework is an important generalization and complement to coevolutionary game dynamics, and also fills the theoretical gap in guiding the widespread problem of population state control in microbial experiments.

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Evolutionary dynamics of culturally transmitted, fertility-reducing traits

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2019.2468 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1925) ◽

pp. 20192468

Author(s):

Dominik Wodarz ◽

Shaun Stipp ◽

David Hirshleifer ◽

Natalia L. Komarova

Keyword(s):

Demographic Transition ◽

Cultural Transmission ◽

Western Europe ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Transition Process ◽

Low Fertility ◽

Human Populations ◽

Demographic Transitions ◽

Cultural Evolutionary ◽

Fertility Traits

Human populations in many countries have undergone a phase of demographic transition, characterized by a major reduction in fertility at a time of increased resource availability. A key stylized fact is that the reduction in fertility is preceded by a reduction in mortality and a consequent increase in population density. Various theories have been proposed to account for the demographic transition process, including maladaptation, increased parental investment in fewer offspring, and cultural evolution. None of these approaches, including formal cultural evolutionary models of the demographic transitions, have addressed a possible direct causal relationship between a reduction in mortality and the subsequent decline in fertility. We provide mathematical models in which low mortality favours the cultural selection of low-fertility traits. This occurs because reduced mortality slows turnover in the model, which allows the cultural transmission advantage of low-fertility traits to outrace their reproductive disadvantage. For mortality to be a crucial determinant of outcome, a cultural transmission bias is required where slow reproducers exert higher social influence. Computer simulations of our models that allow for exogenous variation in the death rate can reproduce the central features of the demographic transition process, including substantial reductions in fertility within only one to three generations. A model assuming continuous evolution of reproduction rates through imitation errors predicts fertility to fall below replacement levels if death rates are sufficiently low. This can potentially explain the very low preferred family sizes in Western Europe.

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