scholarly journals The Importance of Population Growth and Regulation in Human Life History Evolution

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. e0119789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Baldini
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
History Evolution

The evolution of childhood as a by-product?

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-289
Author(s):  
Peter Kappeler
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
History Evolution ◽  
Linguistic Skills

The proposition that selective advantages of linguistic skills have contributed to shifts in ontogenetic landmarks of human life histories in early Homo sapiens is weakened by neglecting alternative mechanisms of life history evolution. Moreover, arguments about biological continuity through sweeping comparisons with nonhuman primates do not support various assumptions of this scenario.

A theory of human life history evolution: Diet, intelligence, and longevity

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 156-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillard Kaplan ◽  
Kim Hill ◽  
Jane Lancaster ◽  
A. Magdalena Hurtado
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
History Evolution

scholarly journals The importance of population growth and regulation in human life history evolution

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Baldini
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Age Structured ◽  
Zero Population Growth ◽  
Strategy I

Explaining the evolution of human life history characteristics remains an outstanding problem to evolutionary anthropologists. Progress is hindered by common misunderstandings of how selection works in age-structured populations. I review two important results of life history theory related to demography. First, different life history strategies evolve under density-independent and density-dependent population growth. Second, and more poorly appreciated, different kinds of density-dependence also select for different life history strategies; assuming zero population growth alone is insufficient to determine the optimal strategy. I show that these facts are more than methodological niceties by reanalyzing the model by Kaplan et al. (2000) and showing that the results depend strongly on the form of population regulation assumed. This analysis suggests that progress in human life history theory requires better understanding of the demography of our ancestors. I close with a discussion of empirical implications.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document