scholarly journals Reproductive ecology of short and long-term mating: implications for sexual selection and life history theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Mileta Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Reproductive Ecology ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Human Reproductive

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and fitness-related outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman’s third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N=398, Mage=31.03; Study 2: N=996, Mage=40.81, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman’s third principle. Observed age of first reproduction fully mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants. There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.

scholarly journals Phenotypic Signals of Sexual Selection and Fast Life History Dynamics for the Long-Term but Not Short-Term Mating

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470492110571
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Human Reproductive

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and reproductive outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman's third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N = 398, Study 2: N = 996, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success (number of children in Study 1; number of children and grandchildren in Study 2) and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman's third principle. Observed age of first reproduction mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants (Study 2). There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.

Long-term mating positively predicts both reproductive fitness and parental investment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Fitness Indicators ◽  
Number Of Sexual Partners ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory

Abstract Empirical data on the relations between mating and reproductive success are rare for humans, especially for industrial and post-industrial populations. Existing data show that mating (and especially long-term mating) can be beneficial for fitness, especially that of males. This finding is in line with the hypothesis of sexual selection operating in human populations. The present research expands on previous studies by: 1) analysing additional fitness indicators, including having children with different partners; 2) including parental investment in the analysis as another important marker of sexual selection; 3) analysing several mediators between mating, reproductive fitness and parental investment, i.e. age of first and last reproduction and desired number of children. The data were obtained in 2019 from a sample of parents living in Serbia (N=497). The findings showed that long-term mating (duration of longest partner relationship) was positively related to parental investment and number of offspring and grand-offspring. Furthermore, the link between long-term mating and reproductive success was completely mediated by the age of first reproduction and desired number of children. Short-term mating (number of sexual partners) was marginally positively related to the number of children participants had with different partners and negatively related to parental investment. No sex differences in the link between mating, fitness and parental investment were detected. In general, the signatures of sexual selection were weak in the present data, but those that were detected were in line with sexual selection theory. The present findings provide a deeper insight into the adaptive function of mating and also the mechanism of how mating is beneficial for fitness.

Examining the link between religiousness and fitness in a behavioural ecological framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 756-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
Age At First Birth ◽  
First Birth ◽  
Number Of Children

AbstractIn recent years there have been attempts to explain religiousness from an evolutionary viewpoint. However, empirical data on this topic are still lacking. In the present study, the behavioural ecological theoretical framework was used to explore the relations between religiousness, harsh environment, fitness (reproductive success and parental investment) and fitness-related outcomes (age at first birth, desired number of children and the romantic relationship duration). The data were collected from 461 individuals from a community sample who were near the end of their reproductive phase (54% females, Mage = 51.75; SD = 6.56). Positive links between religiousness, harsh environment, fitness and fitness-related outcomes were expected, with the exception of age at first birth, for which a negative association was hypothesized. Hence, the main assumption of the study was that religiousness has some attributes of fast life-history phenotypes – that it emerges from a harsh environment and enables earlier reproduction. The study findings partially confirmed these hypotheses. Religiousness was positively related to environmental harshness but only on a zero-order level. Religious individuals had higher reproductive success (this association was especially pronounced in males) but religiousness did not show associations with parental investment. Religiousness was positively associated with desired number of children and negatively associated with age at first birth, although the latter association was only marginally significant in the multivariate analyses. Finally, path analysis showed that desired number of children and age at first birth completely mediated the relation between religiousness and reproductive success. The data confirmed the biologically adaptive function of religiousness in contemporary populations and found the mediating processes that facilitate fitness in religious individuals. Furthermore, the findings initiate a more complex view of religiousness in a life-history context which could be fruitful for future research: a proposal labelled as ‘ontogeny-dependent life-history theory of religiousness’.

scholarly journals Love Styles in the Context of Life History Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-249
Author(s):  
Magdalena Marzec ◽  
Andrzej Łukasik
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Love Styles ◽  
Number Of Children

Abstract The evolutionary function of love is to create a strong bond between the partners with reproduction in view. In order to achieve this goal, humans use various sexual/reproductive strategies, which have evolved due to specific reproductive benefits. The use of particular strategies depends on many factors but one of the most important is early childhood experiences, on which life history theory (LHT) focuses. John Lee (1973) identified 6 basic love styles: eros, ludus, storge, pragma, agape, and mania. Our goal was to check whether love styles may be treated as sexual/reproductive strategies in the context of LHT - slow or fast strategy. In our study (N = 177) we found that people who prefer the slow reproductive strategy are inclined to show passionate, pragmatic and friendly love, and those who prefer the fast strategy, treated love as a game. A low level of environmental stress in childhood results in preferring eros, storge and agape love styles, belonging to the slow strategy, and a high one results in preferring ludus, which belongs to the fast strategy. People representing eros, storge or pragma styles have restricted sociosexual orientation so they prefer long-term relationships, whereas those with the ludus style are people with unrestricted orientation, preferring short-term relationships. Besides, storge, agape and pragma seem to determine preferring qualities connected with parental effort in one’s partner, mania - with mating effort, and eros - with both kinds of effort. No correlation was found between the love style and the number of children.

scholarly journals Age-Appropriate Wisdom? Ethnobiological Knowledge Ontogeny in Pastoralist Mexican Choyeros

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Schniter ◽  
Shane Macfarlan ◽  
Juan J. Garcia ◽  
Gorgonio Ruiz‑Campos ◽  
Diego Guevara Beltran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Knowledge Assessment ◽  
Baja California Sur ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
Embodied Capital

We investigate whether age profiles of ethnobiological knowledge developmentare consistent with predictions derived from life history theory about the timing ofproductivity and reproduction. Life history models predict complementary knowledgeprofiles developing across the lifespan for women and men as they experiencechanges in embodied capital and the needs of dependent offspring. We evaluatethese predictions using an ethnobiological knowledge assessment tool developedfor an off-grid pastoralist population known as Choyeros, from Baja California Sur,Mexico. Our results indicate that while individuals acquire knowledge of most dangerousitems and edible resources by early adulthood, knowledge of plants and animalsrelevant to the age and sex divided labor domains and ecologies (e.g., women’shouse gardens, men’s herding activities in the wilderness) continues to develop intomiddle adulthood but to different degrees and at different rates for men and women.As the demands of offspring on parents accumulate with age, reproductive-agedadults continue to develop their knowledge to meet their children’s needs. After controllingfor vision, our analysis indicates that many post-reproductive adults showthe greatest ethnobiological knowledge. These findings extend our understanding ofthe evolved human life history by illustrating how changes in embodied capital andthe needs of dependent offspring predict the development of men’s and women’sethnobiological knowledge across the lifespan.

Life History Strategies

2018 ◽  
pp. 95-126
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Extended Model ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Basic Model

The chapter introduces the basics of life history theory, the concept of life history strategy, and the fast–slow continuum of variation. After reviewing applications to animal behavior and physiology, the chapter reviews current theory and evidence on individual differences in humans as manifestations of alternative life history strategies. The chapter first presents a “basic model” of human life history–related traits, then advances an “extended model” that identifies multiple cognitive-behavioral profiles within fast and slow strategies. Specifically, it is proposed that slow strategies comprise prosocial/caregiving and skilled/provisioning profiles, whereas fast strategies comprise antisocial/exploitative and seductive/creative profiles. The chapter also reviews potential neurobiological markers of life history variation and considers key methodological issues in this area.

scholarly journals Evo–devo of child growth II: human life history and transition between its phases

2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze'ev Hochberg
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Child Growth ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
The Times

This review attempts to use evolutionary life-history theory in understanding child growth in a broad evolutionary perspective. It uses the data and theory of evolutionary predictive adaptive strategies for transition from one life-history phase to the next, and the inherent adaptive plasticity in the timing of such transitions. Humans evolved to withstand energy crises by decreasing their body size, and evolutionary short-term adaptations to energy crises utilize a plasticity that modifies the timing of transition from infancy into childhood, culminating in short stature at the time of an energy crisis. Transition to juvenility is part of a strategy of conversion from a period of total dependence on the family and tribe for provision and security to self-supply, and a degree of adaptive plasticity is provided and determines body composition. Transition to adolescence entails plasticity in adapting to energy resources, other environmental cues, and the social needs of the maturing adolescent to determine lifespan and the period of fecundity and fertility.ConclusionLife-history transitions are the times when the child adaptively responds to environmental cues in order to enhance growth–body composition–lifespan–fecundity schedules and behavioral strategies that yield the highest fitness in a given environment.

Breast asymmetry, sexual selection, and human reproductive success

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Pape Møller ◽  
Manuel Soler ◽  
Randy Thornhill
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Breast Asymmetry ◽  
Human Reproductive

scholarly journals From Environment to Mating Competition and Super-K in a Predominantly Urban Sample of Young Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 147470491667016 ◽  
Author(s):  
George B. Richardson ◽  
Jacinda K. Dariotis ◽  
Mark H. C. Lai
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Life History ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Mating Competition ◽  
Urban Sample ◽  
Best Fit

Recent research suggests human life history strategy (LHS) may be subsumed by multiple dimensions, including mating competition and Super-K, rather than one. In this study, we test whether a two-dimensional structure best fit data from a predominantly urban sample of young adults ages 18–24. We also test whether latent life history dimensions are associated with environmental harshness and unpredictability as predicted by life history theory. Results provide evidence that a two-dimensional model best fit the data. Furthermore, a moderate inverse residual correlation between mating competition and Super-K was found, consistent with a life history trade-off. Our findings suggest that parental socioeconomic status may enhance investment in mating competition, that harshness might persist into young adulthood as an important correlate of LHS, and that unpredictability may not have significant effects in young adulthood. These findings further support the contention that human LHS is multidimensional and environmental effects on LHS are more complex than previously suggested. The model presented provides a parsimonious explanation of an array of human behaviors and traits and can be used to inform public health initiatives, particularly with respect to the potential impact of environmental interventions.

scholarly journals Emerging issues in the evolution of animal nuptial gifts

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 20140336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara M. Lewis ◽  
Karim Vahed ◽  
Joris M. Koene ◽  
Leif Engqvist ◽  
Luc F. Bussière ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Nutritional Ecology ◽  
Nuptial Gifts ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Simultaneous Hermaphrodites

Uniquely positioned at the intersection of sexual selection, nutritional ecology and life-history theory, nuptial gifts are widespread and diverse. Despite extensive empirical study, we still have only a rudimentary understanding of gift evolution because we lack a unified conceptual framework for considering these traits. In this opinion piece, we tackle several issues that we believe have substantively hindered progress in this area. Here, we: (i) present a comprehensive definition and classification scheme for nuptial gifts (including those transferred by simultaneous hermaphrodites), (ii) outline evolutionary predictions for different gift types, and (iii) highlight some research directions to help facilitate progress in this field.

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