The Archaeology of Population Dynamics

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (27) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
John Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
Recent Interpretation

A critical evaluation of the recent interpretation of aDNA data that link the adoption of domesticated plants and animals across Europe with a migration of human populations from southwest Asia and the Aegean. These data have been used to question previous models that argued for the uptake of farming by indigenous hunter-gatherer populations.

scholarly journals Human Prehistoric Demography Revealed by the Polymorphic Pattern of CpG Transitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 2691-2698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Liu
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Neolithic Revolution ◽  
Cpg Sites ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Polymorphic Pattern ◽  
Improved Model

Abstract The prehistoric demography of human populations is an essential piece of information for illustrating our evolution. Despite its importance and the advancement of ancient DNA studies, our knowledge of human evolution is still limited, which is also the case for relatively recent population dynamics during and around the Holocene. Here, we inferred detailed demographic histories from 1 to 40 ka for 24 population samples using an improved model-flexible method with 36 million genome-wide noncoding CpG sites. Our results showed many population growth events that were likely due to the Neolithic Revolution (i.e., the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement). Our results help to provide a clearer picture of human prehistoric demography, confirming the significant impact of agriculture on population expansion, and provide new hypotheses and directions for future research.

scholarly journals Critical evaluation of transcription factor Atf2 as a candidate modulator of alcohol preference in mouse and human populations

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 5992-6005 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.S. Wang ◽  
Y. Jiao ◽  
Y. Huang ◽  
X.Y. Liu ◽  
G. Gibson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Alcohol Preference ◽  
Human Populations

scholarly journals Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erlend Kirkeng Jørgensen ◽  
Petro Pesonen ◽  
Miikka Tallavaara
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Human Ecodynamics

Abstract Synchronized demographic and behavioral patterns among distinct populations is a well-known, natural phenomenon. Intriguingly, similar patterns of synchrony occur among prehistoric human populations. However, the drivers of synchronous human ecodynamics are not well understood. Addressing this issue, we review the role of environmental variability in causing human demographic and adaptive responses. As a case study, we explore human ecodynamics of coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe, comparing population, economic, and environmental dynamics in two separate areas (northern Norway and western Finland). Population trends are reconstructed using temporal frequency distributions of radiocarbon-dated and shoreline-dated archaeological sites. These are correlated to regional environmental proxies and proxies for maritime resource use. The results demonstrate remarkably synchronous patterns across population trajectories, marine resource exploitation, settlement pattern, and technological responses. Crucially, the population dynamics strongly correspond to significant environmental changes. We evaluate competing hypotheses and suggest that the synchrony stems from similar responses to shared environmental variability. We take this to be a prehistoric human example of the “Moran effect,” positing similar responses of geographically distinct populations to shared environmental drivers. The results imply that intensified economies and social interaction networks have limited impact on long-term hunter-gatherer population trajectories beyond what is already proscribed by environmental drivers.

Molecular Population Genetics

2020 ◽  
pp. 179-224
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Hartl
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetics ◽  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Frequency Spectrum ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Noncoding Dna ◽  
Molecular Population Genetics ◽  
Amino Acid Divergence ◽  
Site Frequency Spectrum

Chapter 7 is an introduction to molecular population genetics that includes the principal concepts of nucleotide polymorphism and divergence, the site frequency spectrum, and tests of selection and their limitations. Highlighted are rates of nucleotide substitution in coding and noncoding DNA, nucleotide and amino acid divergence between species, corrections for multiple substitutions, and the molecular clock. Discussion of the folded and unfolded site frequency spectrum includes the strengths and limitations of Tajima’s D, Fay and Wu’s H, and other measures. The chapter also discusses an emerging consensus to resolve the celebrated selection–neutrality controversy. It also includes examination of demographic history through the use of ancient DNA with special emphasis on the surprising findings in regard to the ancestral makeup of contemporary human populations. Also discussed are the population dynamics of transposable elements in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

scholarly journals Strategic Social Learning and the Population Dynamics of Human Behavior: The Game of Go

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bret A Beheim ◽  
Calvin Thigpen ◽  
Richard McElreath
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Social Learning Processes

Human culture is widely believed to undergo evolution, via mechanisms rooted in the nature of human cognition. A number of theories predict the kinds of human learning strategies, as well as the population dynamics that result from their action. There is little work, however, that quantitatively examines the evidence for these strategies and resulting cultural evolution within human populations. One of the obstacles is the lack of individual-level data with which to link transmission events to larger cultural dynamics. Here, we address this problem with a rich quantitative database from the East Asian board game known as Go. We draw from a large archive of Go games spanning the last six decades of professional play, and find evidence that the evolutionary dynamics of particular cultural variants are driven by a mix of individual and social learning processes. Particular players vary dramatically in their sensitivity to population knowledge, which also varies by age and nationality. The dynamic patterns of opening Go moves are consistent with an ancient, ongoing arms race within the game itself.

scholarly journals Direct evidence of an increasing mutational load in humans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Aris-Brosou
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Mutational Load ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Local Adaptations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Risk Alleles ◽  
Diabetes And Obesity

AbstractThe extent to which selection has shaped present-day human populations has attracted intense scrutiny, and examples of local adaptations abound. However, the evolutionary trajectory of alleles that, today, are deleterious has received much less attention. To address this question, the genomes of 2,062 individuals, including 1,179 ancient humans, were reanalyzed to assess how frequencies of risk alleles and their homozygosity changed through space and time in Europe over the past 45,000 years. While the overall deleterious homozygosity has consistently decreased, risk alleles have steadily increased in frequency over that period of time. Those that increased most are associated with diseases such as asthma, Crohn disease, diabetes and obesity, which are highly prevalent in present-day populations. These findings may not run against the existence of local adaptations, but highlight the limitations imposed by drift and population dynamics on the strength of selection in purging deleterious mutations from human populations.

scholarly journals Direct Evidence of an Increasing Mutational Load in Humans

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 2823-2829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Aris-Brosou
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Mutational Load ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Local Adaptations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Risk Alleles ◽  
Diabetes And Obesity

Abstract The extent to which selection has shaped present-day human populations has attracted intense scrutiny, and examples of local adaptations abound. However, the evolutionary trajectory of alleles that, today, are deleterious has received much less attention. To address this question, the genomes of 2,062 individuals, including 1,179 ancient humans, were reanalyzed to assess how frequencies of risk alleles and their homozygosity changed through space and time in Europe over the past 45,000 years. Although the overall deleterious homozygosity has consistently decreased, risk alleles have steadily increased in frequency over that period of time. Those that increased most are associated with diseases such as asthma, Crohn disease, diabetes, and obesity, which are highly prevalent in present-day populations. These findings may not run against the existence of local adaptations but highlight the limitations imposed by drift and population dynamics on the strength of selection in purging deleterious mutations from human populations.

scholarly journals Effects of Spatial Heterogeneity on Transmission Potential in Vectorial-Contact Networks: A Comparison of Three Aedes aegypti Control Strategies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Héctor M. Sánchez C. ◽  
John M. Marshall ◽  
Sean L. Wu ◽  
Edgar E. Vallejo
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Heterogeneity ◽  
Mosquito Control ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Mosquito Population ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Lethal Gene ◽  
Contact Networks ◽  
Mosquito Population Dynamics

AbstractDengue, chikungunya and zika are all transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Despite the strong influence of host spatial distribution and movement patterns on the ability of mosquito vectors to transmit pathogens, there is little understanding how these complex interactions modify the spread of disease in spatially heterogeneous populations. In light of present fears of a worldwide zika epidemic, and failures to eradicate dengue and chikungunya; there is a pressing need to get a better picture of how high-resolution details such as human movement in a small landscape, modify the patterns of transmission of these diseases and how different mosquito-control interventions could be affected by these movements.In this work we use a computational agent-based model (ABM) to simulate mosquito-human interactions in two different levels of spatial heterogeneity, with human movement, and in the presence of three mosquito-control interventions (spatial spraying, the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes and release of insects with dominant lethal gene). To analyse the results from each of these experiments we examined mosquito population dynamics and host to host contact networks that emerged from the distribution of consecutive bites across humans. We then compared results across experiments to understand the differential effectiveness of different interventions in both the presence and absence of spatial heterogeneities, and analysed network measures of epidemiological relevance (degree probability distributions, mean path length, network density and small-worldness).From our experiments we conclude that spatial heterogeneity greatly influences how a pathogen may spread in a host population when mediated by a mosquito vector, and that these important heterogeneities also strongly affect effectiveness of interventions. Finally, we demonstrate that these host to host vectorial-contact networks can provide operationally important information to inform selection of optimal vector-control strategies.Author SummaryMosquito-borne diseases’ transmission patterns arise from the complex interactions between hosts and vector. Because these interactions are influenced by host and vector behaviour, spatial constraints, and other factors they are amongst the most difficult to understand. In this work, we use our computational agent-based model: SoNA3BS; to simulate two spatially different settings in the presence and absence of three different mosquito-control interventions: fogging, the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes and the release of insects with dominant lethal gene. Throughout these simulations, we record mosquito population dynamics and mosquito bites on persons. We then compare mosquito population dynamics to the vectorial-contact networks (that emerge from subsequent mosquito bites between humans) and, after performing these comparisons, we proceeded to show that even when mosquito population sizes are almost equal in both spatial settings, the resulting vectorial-contact networks are radically different. This has profound implications in our understanding of how mosquito-borne diseases spread in human populations and is relevant to the effective use of resources allocated to stop these pathogens from causing more harm in human populations.

Domestication and the origins of agriculture: an appraisal

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Mannion
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Age Determination ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Southwest Asia ◽  
Origins Of Agriculture ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Centre Of Origin ◽  
Major Turning Point ◽  
Spread Of Agriculture

The first domestications of plants and animals, which occurred between 10 K years and 5 K years BP, and which underpinned the inception of agricultural systems, represent a major turning point in cultural and environmental history. Whilst much has been written on these topics, new archaeological discoveries and the development of new methods of data collection require that these issues should be reappraised. One example of a new archaeological discovery is that of evidence for rice cultivation prior to 10 K years BP in the middle Yangtze Basin of China. This region is now considered to be the likely centre of rice domestication and, because of the discovery of settlement structures, it may have been home to China’s oldest civilization. In addition, further age determination may establish this region of China as the earliest centre of agricultural innovation, instead of southwest Asia. New methods of age estimation, notably by radiocarbon, have necessitated a reappraisal of the origins of agriculture in Mesoamerica, whilst biomolecular techniques are contributing to the identification of the wild relatives of domesticated plants and animals. Genetic analysis has also been applied to modern human populations in order to establish the relationships between different groups and thus to attempt to determine the movement of peoples in prehistory. Such relationships in Europe have been related to the spread of agriculture from its centre of origin in southwest Asia, although this is speculative rather than conclusive. Despite these advances, however, there is still no unequivocal evidence as to why agriculture was initiated.

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