51
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Lew-Levy S, Kissler SM, Boyette AH, Crittenden AN, Mabulla IA, Hewlett BS. Who teaches children to forage? Exploring the primacy of child-to-child teaching among Hadza and BaYaka Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania and Congo. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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52
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Efferson C, Vogt S, Fehr E. The promise and the peril of using social influence to reverse harmful traditions. Nat Hum Behav 2019; 4:55-68. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0768-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 10/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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53
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Page AE, Thomas MG, Smith D, Dyble M, Viguier S, Chaudhary N, Salali GD, Thompson J, Mace R, Migliano AB. Testing adaptive hypotheses of alloparenting in Agta foragers. Nat Hum Behav 2019; 3:1154-1163. [PMID: 31406338 PMCID: PMC6858278 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0679-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2017] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Human children are frequently cared for by non-parental caregivers (alloparents), yet few studies have conducted systematic alternative hypothesis tests of why alloparents help. Here we explore whether predictions from kin selection, reciprocity, learning-to-mother and costly signalling hypotheses explain non-parental childcare among Agta hunter-gatherers from the Philippines. To test these hypotheses, we used high-resolution proximity data from 1,701 child-alloparent dyads. Our results indicated that reciprocity and relatedness were positively associated with the number of interactions with a child (our proxy for childcare). Need appeared more influential in close kin, suggesting indirect benefits, while reciprocity proved to be a stronger influence in non-kin, pointing to direct benefits. However, despite shared genes, close and distant kin interactions were also contingent on reciprocity. Compared with other apes, humans are unique in rapidly producing energetically demanding offspring. Our results suggest that the support that mothers require is met through support based on kinship and reciprocity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E Page
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Matthew G Thomas
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Smith
- Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sylvain Viguier
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - James Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Andrea B Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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54
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Smolla M, Akçay E. Cultural selection shapes network structure. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaaw0609. [PMID: 31453324 PMCID: PMC6693906 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Cultural evolution relies on the social transmission of cultural traits along a population's social network. Research indicates that network structure affects information spread and thus the capacity for cumulative culture. However, how network structure itself is driven by population-culture co-evolution remains largely unclear. We use a simple model to investigate how populations negotiate the trade-off between acquiring new skills and getting better at existing skills and how this trade-off shapes social networks. We find unexpected eco-evolutionary feedbacks from culture onto social networks and vice versa. We show that selecting for skill generalists results in sparse networks with diverse skill sets, whereas selecting for skill specialists results in dense networks and a population that specializes on the same few skills on which everyone is an expert. Our model advances our understanding of the complex feedbacks in cultural evolution and demonstrates how individual-level behavior can lead to the emergence of population-level structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Smolla
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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55
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Gallo E, Riyanto YE, Teh TH, Roy N. Strong links promote the emergence of cooperative elites. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10857. [PMID: 31350455 PMCID: PMC6659657 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47278-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The maintenance of cooperative behavior is fundamental for the prosperity of human societies. Empirical studies show that high cooperation is frequently associated with the presence of strong social ties, but they are silent on whether a causal mechanism exists, how it operates, and what features of the social environment are conducive to its emergence. Here we show experimentally that strong ties increase cooperation and welfare by enabling the emergence of a close-knit and strongly bound cooperative elite. Crucially, this cooperative elite is more prevalent in social environments characterized by a large payoff difference between weak and strong ties, and no gradation in the process of strengthening a tie. These features allow cooperative individuals to adopt an all or nothing strategy to tie strengthening based on the well-known mechanism of direct reciprocity: participants become very selective by forming strong ties only with other cooperative individuals and severing ties with everyone else. Once formed, these strong ties are persistent and enhance cooperation. A dichotomous society emerges with cooperators prospering in a close-knit, strongly bound elite, and defectors earning low payoffs in a weakly connected periphery. Methodologically, our set-up provides a framework to investigate the role of the strength of ties in an experimental setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edoardo Gallo
- Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DD, UK. .,Queens' College, CB3 9ET, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Yohanes E Riyanto
- Division of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, HSS #04-70, Singapore, 639818, Singapore.
| | - Tat-How Teh
- Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, AS2 06-02 1 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore
| | - Nilanjan Roy
- Department of Economics and Finance, College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
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56
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Bird DW, Bird RB, Codding BF, Zeanah DW. Variability in the organization and size of hunter-gatherer groups: Foragers do not live in small-scale societies. J Hum Evol 2019; 131:96-108. [PMID: 31182209 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Revised: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Mobile hunter-gatherers are often characterized as living in small communities where mobility and group size are products of the environmentally determined distribution of resources, and where social organization is multi-scalar: groups of co-residents are nested within small communities that are, in turn, nested within small-scale societies. Such organization is often assumed to be reflective of the human past, emerging as human cognition and communication evolved through earlier fission-fusion social processes, typical of many primate social systems. We review the history of this assumption in light of recent empirical data of co-residence and social networks among contemporary hunter-gatherers. We suggest that while residential and foraging groups are often small, there is little evidence that these groups are drawn from small communities nested within small-scale societies. Most mobile hunter-gatherers live in groups dominated by links between non-relatives, where residential group membership is fluid and supports large-scale social networks of interaction. We investigate these dynamics with fine-grained observational data on Martu foraging groups and social organization in Australia's Western Desert. The composition of Martu foraging groups is distinct from that of residential groups, although both are dominated by ties between individuals who have no close biological relationships. The number of individuals in a foraging group varies with habitat quality, but in a dynamic way, as group size is shaped by ecological legacies of land use. The flexible size and composition of foraging groups link individuals across their "estates": spatially explicit storehouses of ritual and relational wealth, inherited across generations through maintaining expansive networks of social interaction in a large and complex society. We propose that human cognition is tied to development of such expansive social relationships and co-evolved with dynamic socio-ecological interactions expressed in large-scale networks of relational wealth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas W Bird
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Bldg, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Rebecca Bliege Bird
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, 410 Carpenter Bldg, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Brian F Codding
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 260 Central Campus Drive, Orson Spencer Hall, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States.
| | - David W Zeanah
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, United States.
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57
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Gallagher E, Shennan S, Thomas MG. Food Income and the Evolution of Forager Mobility. Sci Rep 2019; 9:5438. [PMID: 30932031 PMCID: PMC6443647 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42006-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Forager mobility tends to be high, although ethnographic studies indicate ecological factors such as resource abundance and reliability, population density and effective temperature influence the cost-to-benefit assessment of movement decisions. We investigate the evolution of mobility using an agent-based and spatially explicit cultural evolutionary model that considers the feedback between foragers and their environment. We introduce Outcomes Clustering, an approach to categorizing simulated system states arising from complex stochastic processes shaped by multiple interacting parameters. We find that decreased mobility evolves under conditions of high resource replenishment and low resource depletion, with a concomitant trend of increased population density and, counter-intuitively, decreased food incomes. Conversely, increased mobility co-occurs with lower population densities and higher food incomes. We replicate the well-known relationships between mobility, population density, and resource quality, while predicting reduced food income, and consequently the reduction in health status observed in early sedentary populations without the need to invoke factors such as reduced diet quality or increased pathogen loads.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Gallagher
- Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. .,CoMPLEX, University College London, Physics Building, Gower Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - Stephen Shennan
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Mark G Thomas
- Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.,UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
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58
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Social Networks and Knowledge Transmission Strategies among Baka Children, Southeastern Cameroon. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2019; 29:442-463. [PMID: 30357606 PMCID: PMC6208833 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-018-9328-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The dynamics of knowledge transmission and acquisition, or how different aspects of culture are passed from one individual to another and how they are acquired and embodied by individuals, are central to understanding cultural evolution. In small-scale societies, cultural knowledge is largely acquired early in life through observation, imitation, and other forms of social learning embedded in daily experiences. However, little is known about the pathways through which such knowledge is transmitted, especially during middle childhood and adolescence. This study presents new empirical data on cultural knowledge transmission during childhood. Data were collected among the Baka, a forager-farmer society in southeastern Cameroon. We conducted structured interviews with children between 5 and 16 years of age (n = 58 children; 177 interviews, with children being interviewed 1–6 times) about group composition during subsistence activities. Children’s groups were generally diverse, although children tended to perform subsistence activities primarily without adults and with same-sex companions. Group composition varied from one subsistence activity to another, which suggests that the flow of knowledge might also vary according to the activity performed. Analysis of the social composition of children’s subsistence groups shows that vertical and oblique transmission of subsistence-related knowledge might not be predominant during middle childhood and adolescence. Rather, horizontal transmission appears to be the most common knowledge transmission strategy used by Baka children during middle childhood and adolescence, highlighting the importance of other children in the transmission of knowledge.
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59
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Maher LA, Conkey M. Homes for Hunters? Exploring the Concept of Home at Hunter-Gatherer Sites in Upper Paleolithic Europe and Epipaleolithic Southwest Asia. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1086/701523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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60
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Smith D, Dyble M, Major K, Page AE, Chaudhary N, Salali GD, Thompson J, Vinicius L, Migliano AB, Mace R. A friend in need is a friend indeed: Need-based sharing, rather than cooperative assortment, predicts experimental resource transfers among Agta hunter-gatherers. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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61
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Dyble M. The effect of dispersal on rates of cumulative cultural evolution. Biol Lett 2018; 14:rsbl.2018.0069. [PMID: 29491024 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 02/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to develop cultural adaptations to local environments is critical to the biological success of humans. Although overall population size and connectedness are thought to play an important role in increasing the rate of cumulative cultural evolution, the independent effect of dispersal rules on rates of cultural evolution has not been examined. Here, a computational model is used to explore the effect of dispersal on the rate of cultural evolution in traits transmitted patrilineally (from father to son), matrilineally (mother to daughter) and bilineally (through both sexes). Two dispersal conditions are modelled: patrilocality (where females disperse and males stay) and bilocality (where either sex may disperse). The results suggest that when only females disperse, the capacity for cumulative cultural evolution in traits shared only among males is severely constrained. This occurs even though overall rates of dispersal and the number of cultural models available to males and females are identical in both dispersal conditions. The constraints on the evolution of patrilineally inherited traits could be considered to represent a process of 'cultural inbreeding', analogous to genetic inbreeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Dyble
- Jesus College, University of Cambridge, Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BL, UK .,Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
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62
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Sueur C, Romano V, Sosa S, Puga-Gonzalez I. Mechanisms of network evolution: a focus on socioecological factors, intermediary mechanisms, and selection pressures. Primates 2018; 60:167-181. [PMID: 30206778 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-018-0682-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Accepted: 08/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Sueur
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France.
| | - Valéria Romano
- Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, Inuyama, Japan
| | - Sebastian Sosa
- Primates and Evolution Anthropology Laboratory, Anthropology Department, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ivan Puga-Gonzalez
- Institute for Religion, Philosophy and History, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
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63
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Marijuán PC, Montero-Marín J, Navarro J, García-Campayo J, del Moral R. The "sociotype" construct: Gauging the structure and dynamics of human sociality. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0189568. [PMID: 29240816 PMCID: PMC5730176 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2016] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Exploring the pertinence of a "sociotype" construct, established along the conceptual chain genotype-phenotype-sociotype, is the essential purpose of the present paper. Further, by following the sociotype's conceptual guidelines, a new psychometric indicator has been developed in order to gauge the level of social interaction around each individual-the sociotype questionnaire (SOCQ). A first version of this questionnaire has been elaborated by gathering data about the different classes of social bonds (family, friends, acquaintances, and work/study colleagues) in general population and about the dynamic update of these bonds via face-to-face conversation and other modes of interaction. A specific fieldwork was undertaken, involving 1,075 participants, all of them Spanish adults (with diverse social and regional backgrounds). The data obtained were analyzed by means of the correlational method with an analytical cross-sectional design: the number of factors and the consistency and reliability of the resulting scales were evaluated and correlated. The new sociotype indicator resulting from that fieldwork, in spite of its limitations, seems to be valid and reliable, as well as closely associated with widely used metrics of loneliness and psychological distress. It is interesting that the construct noticeably varies throughout the life course and circumstances of individuals, based on their gender and age, and adjusting to the different situations of social networking. This is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, which has tried to reach both a theoretical and an operational formulation of the sociotype construct, by establishing an ad hoc psychometric questionnaire. We think that the information provided by this operational definition opens a new direction of work that could be useful to guide the development and evaluation of programs aimed at improving and strengthening social networking in people at risk, especially for the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro C. Marijuán
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Institute of Health Science (IACS), Zaragoza, Spain
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Jesús Montero-Marín
- Faculty of Health Sciences and Sports, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- Primary Care Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network (RedIAPP), Zaragoza, Spain. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Spain
| | - Jorge Navarro
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Institute of Health Science (IACS), Zaragoza, Spain
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Javier García-Campayo
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain
- Primary Care Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network (RedIAPP), Zaragoza, Spain. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, Spain
| | - Raquel del Moral
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Institute of Health Science (IACS), Zaragoza, Spain
- Bioinformation Group, Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain
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64
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Page AE, Chaudhary N, Viguier S, Dyble M, Thompson J, Smith D, Salali GD, Mace R, Migliano AB. Hunter-Gatherer Social Networks and Reproductive Success. Sci Rep 2017; 7:1153. [PMID: 28442785 PMCID: PMC5430806 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01310-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2016] [Accepted: 03/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals' centrality in their social network (who they and their social ties are connected to) has been associated with fertility, longevity, disease and information transmission in a range of taxa. Here, we present the first exploration in humans of the relationship between reproductive success and different measures of network centrality of 39 Agta and 38 BaYaka mothers. We collected three-meter contact ('proximity') networks and reproductive histories to test the prediction that individual centrality is positively associated with reproductive fitness (number of living offspring). Rather than direct social ties influencing reproductive success, mothers with greater indirect centrality (i.e. centrality determined by second and third degree ties) produced significantly more living offspring. However, indirect centrality is also correlated with sickness in the Agta, suggesting a trade-off. In complex social species, the optimisation of individuals' network position has important ramifications for fitness, potentially due to easy access to different parts of the network, facilitating cooperation and social influence in unpredictable ecologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E Page
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK.
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Sylvain Viguier
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Mark Dyble
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, 21 Allée de Brienne, 31015, Toulouse Cedex 6, France
| | - James Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Daniel Smith
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Gul D Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Andrea Bamberg Migliano
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
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