1
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Dyble M. Explaining variation in the kinship composition of mammal groups. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae032. [PMID: 38690088 PMCID: PMC11059295 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Variation in cooperative behavior across mammals is strongly related to the kinship composition of groups. Although the factors affecting average genetic relatedness within groups have been studied, the factors that contribute to the production of different categories of kin remain underexplored. Here, I use a mathematical model to explore the factors that determine the proportion of full siblings, maternal half-siblings, paternal half-siblings, and non-siblings within mammal groups. The results suggest that the production of paternal half-siblings is increased by high male reproductive skew and a female-biased sex ratio, the production of maternal half-siblings is increased by high female reproductive skew and male-biased sex ratio, and that there are two routes to the production of full siblings: either high reproductive skew in both sexes (as seen in cooperatively breeding species) or pair-bond stability within groups of low reproductive skew (as seen in humans). These results broadly correspond to observed variation in sibling composition across mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Dyble
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ Cambridge, United Kingdom
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2
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Pretelli I, Crittenden AN, Dounias E, Friant S, Koster J, Kramer KL, Mangola SM, Saez AM, Lew-Levy S. Child and adolescent foraging: New directions in evolutionary research. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22020. [PMID: 38214699 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Young children and adolescents in subsistence societies forage for a wide range of resources. They often target child-specific foods, they can be very successful foragers, and they share their produce widely within and outside of their nuclear family. At the same time, while foraging, they face risky situations and are exposed to diseases that can influence their immune development. However, children's foraging has largely been explained in light of their future (adult) behavior. Here, we reinterpret findings from human behavioral ecology, evolutionary medicine and cultural evolution to center foraging children's contributions to life history evolution, community resilience and immune development. We highlight the need to foreground immediate alongside delayed benefits and costs of foraging, including inclusive fitness benefits, when discussing children's food production from an evolutionary perspective. We conclude by recommending that researchers carefully consider children's social and ecological context, develop cross-cultural perspectives, and incorporate children's foraging into Indigenous sovereignty discourse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Pretelli
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, and University of Toulouse Capitole, Toulouse, France
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Edmond Dounias
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Sagan Friant
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jeremy Koster
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karen L Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Shani M Mangola
- The Law School of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Olanakwe Community Fund, Mang'ola, Tanzania
| | - Almudena Mari Saez
- TransVHIMI Unit, French National Institute for Sustainable Development, IRD, Montpellier, France
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3
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Kramer KL. Female cooperation: evolutionary, cross-cultural and ethnographic evidence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210425. [PMID: 36440565 PMCID: PMC9703230 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Women and girls cooperate with each other across many domains and at many scales. However, much of this information is buried in the ethnographic record and has been overlooked in theoretic constructions of the evolution of human sociality and cooperation. The assumed primacy of male bonding, hunting, patrilocality and philopatry has dominated the discussion of cooperation without balanced consideration. A closer look at the ethnographic record reveals that in addition to cooperative childcare and food production, women and girls collectively form coalitions, have their own cooperative political, ceremonial, economic and social institutions, and develop female-based exchange and support networks. The numerous ethnographic examples of female cooperation urge reconsideration of gender stereotypes and the limits of female cooperation. This review brings together theoretic, cross-cultural and cross-lifespan research on female cooperation to present a more even and empirically supported view of female sociality. Following the lead from trends in evolutionary biology and sexual selection theory, the hope going forward is that the focus shifts from rote characterizations of sex differences to highlighting sources of variation and conditions that enhance or constrain female cooperative engagement. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen L. Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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4
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Lew-Levy S, Reckin R, Kissler SM, Pretelli I, Boyette AH, Crittenden AN, Hagen RV, Haas R, Kramer KL, Koster J, O'Brien MJ, Sonoda K, Surovell TA, Stieglitz J, Tucker B, Lavi N, Ellis-Davies K, Davis HE. Socioecology shapes child and adolescent time allocation in twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8054. [PMID: 35577896 PMCID: PMC9110336 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12217-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A key issue distinguishing prominent evolutionary models of human life history is whether prolonged childhood evolved to facilitate learning in a skill- and strength-intensive foraging niche requiring high levels of cooperation. Considering the diversity of environments humans inhabit, children's activities should also reflect local social and ecological opportunities and constraints. To better understand our species' developmental plasticity, the present paper compiled a time allocation dataset for children and adolescents from twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies (n = 690; 3-18 years; 52% girls). We investigated how environmental factors, local ecological risk, and men and women's relative energetic contributions were associated with cross-cultural variation in child and adolescent time allocation to childcare, food production, domestic work, and play. Annual precipitation, annual mean temperature, and net primary productivity were not strongly associated with child and adolescent activity budgets. Increased risk of encounters with dangerous animals and dehydration negatively predicted time allocation to childcare and domestic work, but not food production. Gender differences in child and adolescent activity budgets were stronger in societies where men made greater direct contributions to food production than women. We interpret these findings as suggesting that children and their caregivers adjust their activities to facilitate the early acquisition of knowledge which helps children safely cooperate with adults in a range of social and ecological environments. These findings compel us to consider how childhood may have also evolved to facilitate flexible participation in productive activities in early life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheina Lew-Levy
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Rachel Reckin
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CV2 3DZ, UK
| | - Stephen M Kissler
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Ilaria Pretelli
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam H Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Alyssa N Crittenden
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA
| | - Renée V Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Randall Haas
- Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University, 656 W. Kirby St., 3037 FAB, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA
| | - Karen L Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 260 Central Campus Drive, Suite 4553, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Jeremy Koster
- Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, 481 Braunstein Hall, PO Box 210380, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0380, USA
| | - Matthew J O'Brien
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico, 400 W. First St., Chico, CA, 95929-0400, USA
| | - Koji Sonoda
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi 2-no-cho, Nishi-ku, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan
| | - Todd A Surovell
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 12th and Lewis Streets, Laramie, WY, 8207, USA
| | - Jonathan Stieglitz
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, 1 Esplanade de l'Université, 31080, Toulouse Cedex 06, France
| | - Bram Tucker
- Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, 250 Baldwin Hall, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Noa Lavi
- Department of Anthropology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Mount Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Kate Ellis-Davies
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Sketty, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
| | - Helen E Davis
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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Koenig WD, Prinz ACB, Haydock J, Dugdale HL, Walters EL. Are you my baby? Testing whether paternity affects behavior of cobreeder male acorn woodpeckers. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Natural selection is expected to favor males that invest more in offspring they sire. We investigated the relationship between paternity and male behavior in the acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), a cooperative breeder that lives in family groups including offspring that remain on their natal territory, sometimes for years, and cobreeders of both sexes. Regardless of group composition, only one communal nest is attended at a time. Whereas cobreeding females share maternity equally, one male usually sires the majority of young in the group’s communal nest. Copulations are rarely observed, and thus it has not been possible to link paternity to sexual behavior. There were no differences among cobreeder males that did or did not sire young in their propensity to roost in the nest cavity at night. However, cobreeder males that attended females continuously prior to egg-laying were more likely to successfully sire young than males that did not, and the relative share of feeding visits and time spent at the subsequent nest were positively related to a male’s realized paternity. These differences in male behavior were partly due to differences among males and partly to plasticity in male behavior covarying with paternity share. Feedings by males successfully siring young also involved a larger proportion of nutritionally valuable insect prey. Males are aware of their paternity success, apparently because of their relative access to females prior to egg laying, and provide more paternal care at nests in which they are more likely to have sired young.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walter D Koenig
- Hastings Reservation, University of California Berkeley , Carmel Valley, CA , USA
- Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY , USA
| | - Anna C B Prinz
- Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University , Norfolk, VA , USA
| | - Joseph Haydock
- Biology Department, Gonzaga University , Spokane, WA , USA
| | - Hannah L Dugdale
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, School of Biology, University of Leeds , Leeds , UK
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen , AG Groningen , The Netherlands
| | - Eric L Walters
- Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University , Norfolk, VA , USA
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6
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Childhood Teaching and Learning among Savanna Pumé Hunter-Gatherers. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2021; 32:87-114. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-021-09392-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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7
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Federico V, Allainé D, Gaillard JM, Cohas A. Evolutionary Pathways to Communal and Cooperative Breeding in Carnivores. Am Nat 2020; 195:1037-1055. [PMID: 32469664 DOI: 10.1086/708639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
In animal societies, individuals can cooperate in a variety of tasks, including rearing young. Such cooperation is observed in complex social systems, including communal and cooperative breeding. In mammals, both these social systems are characterized by delayed dispersal and alloparenting, whereas only cooperative breeding involves reproductive suppression. While the evolution of communal breeding has been linked to direct fitness benefits of alloparenting, the direct fitness cost of reproductive suppression has led to the hypothesis that the evolution of cooperative breeding is driven by indirect fitness benefits accrued through raising the offspring of related individuals. To decipher between the evolutionary scenarios leading to communal and cooperative breeding in carnivores, we investigated the coevolution among delayed dispersal, reproductive suppression, and alloparenting. We reconstructed ancestral states and transition rates between these traits. We found that cooperative breeding and communal breeding evolved along separate pathways, with delayed dispersal as the first step for both. The three traits coevolved, enhancing and stabilizing one another, which resulted in cooperative social systems as opposed to intermediate configurations being stable. These findings promote the key role of coevolution among traits to stabilize cooperative social systems and highlight the specificities of evolutionary patterns of sociality in carnivores.
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8
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Schacht R, Kramer KL. Are We Monogamous? A Review of the Evolution of Pair-Bonding in Humans and Its Contemporary Variation Cross-Culturally. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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9
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Waterman JM, Archibald AJ. Both familiarity and kinship influence odour discrimination by females in a highly social African ground squirrel. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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10
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Kramer KL, Schacht R, Bell A. Adult sex ratios and partner scarcity among hunter-gatherers: implications for dispersal patterns and the evolution of human sociality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 372:20160316. [PMID: 28760759 PMCID: PMC5540858 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Small populations are susceptible to high genetic loads and random fluctuations in birth and death rates. While these selective forces can adversely affect their viability, small populations persist across taxa. Here, we investigate the resilience of small groups to demographic uncertainty, and specifically to fluctuations in adult sex ratio (ASR), partner availability and dispersal patterns. Using 25 years of demographic data for two Savannah Pumé groups of South American hunter-gatherers, we show that in small human populations: (i) ASRs fluctuate substantially from year to year, but do not consistently trend in a sex-biased direction; (ii) the primary driver of local variation in partner availability is stochasticity in the sex ratio at maturity; and (iii) dispersal outside of the group is an important behavioural means to mediate locally constrained mating options. To then simulate conditions under which dispersal outside of the local group may have evolved, we develop two mathematical models. Model results predict that if the ASR is biased, the globally rarer sex should disperse. The model's utility is then evaluated by applying our empirical data to this central prediction. The results are consistent with the observed hunter-gatherer pattern of variation in the sex that disperses. Together, these findings offer an alternative explanation to resource provisioning for the evolution of traits central to human sociality (e.g. flexible dispersal, bilocal post-marital residence and cooperation across local groups). We argue that in small populations, looking outside of one's local group is necessary to find a mate and that, motivated by ASR imbalance, the alliances formed to facilitate the movement of partners are an important foundation for the human-typical pattern of network formation across local groups.This article is part of the themed issue 'Adult sex ratios and reproductive decisions: a critical re-examination of sex differences in human and animal societies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen L Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 270 South 1400 East, Room 102, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Ryan Schacht
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 270 South 1400 East, Room 102, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Adrian Bell
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, 270 South 1400 East, Room 102, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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11
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Abstract
Cooperative breeding, in which more than a pair of conspecifics cooperate to raise young at a single nest or brood, is widespread among vertebrates but highly variable in its geographic distribution. Particularly vexing has been identifying the ecological correlates of this phenomenon, which has been suggested to be favored in populations inhabiting both relatively stable, productive environments and in populations living under highly variable and unpredictable conditions. Griesser et al. provide a novel approach to this problem, performing a phylogenetic analysis indicating that family living is an intermediate step between nonsocial and cooperative breeding birds. They then examine the ecological and climatic conditions associated with these different social systems, concluding that cooperative breeding emerges when family living is favored in highly productive environments, followed secondarily by selection for cooperative breeding when environmental conditions deteriorate and within-year variability increases. Combined with recent work addressing the fitness consequences of cooperative breeding, Griesser et al.’s contribution stands to move the field forward by demonstrating that the evolution of complex adaptations such as cooperative breeding may only be understood when each of the steps leading to it are identified and carefully integrated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walter D. Koenig
- Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
- Hastings Reservation, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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12
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The evolution of monogamy in response to partner scarcity. Sci Rep 2016; 6:32472. [PMID: 27600189 PMCID: PMC5013280 DOI: 10.1038/srep32472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 07/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of monogamy and paternal care in humans is often argued to have resulted from the needs of our expensive offspring. Recent research challenges this claim, however, contending that promiscuous male competitors and the risk of cuckoldry limit the scope for the evolution of male investment. So how did monogamy first evolve? Links between mating strategies and partner availability may offer resolution. While studies of sex roles commonly assume that optimal mating rates for males are higher, fitness payoffs to monogamy and the maintenance of a single partner can be greater when partners are rare. Thus, partner availability is increasingly recognized as a key variable structuring mating behavior. To apply these recent insights to human evolution, we model three male strategies – multiple mating, mate guarding and paternal care – in response to partner availability. Under assumed ancestral human conditions, we find that male mate guarding, rather than paternal care, drives the evolution of monogamy, as it secures a partner and ensures paternity certainty in the face of more promiscuous competitors. Accordingly, we argue that while paternal investment may be common across human societies, current patterns should not be confused with the reason pairing first evolved.
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13
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Disentangling the Correlated Evolution of Monogamy and Cooperation. Trends Ecol Evol 2016; 31:503-513. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2016] [Revised: 03/09/2016] [Accepted: 03/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Stern CA, Dickinson JL. Effects of load-lightening and delayed extrapair benefits on the fitness consequences of helping behavior. Behav Ecol 2016; 27:1078-1086. [PMID: 30349177 PMCID: PMC6191074 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2015] [Revised: 01/19/2016] [Accepted: 01/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin A. Stern
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
| | - Janis L. Dickinson
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA, and
- Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Fernow Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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Kramer KL, Russell AF. Was monogamy a key step on the hominin road? Reevaluating the monogamy hypothesis in the evolution of cooperative breeding. Evol Anthropol 2015; 24:73-83. [PMID: 25914361 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Because human mothers routinely rely on others to help raise their young, humans have been characterized as cooperative breeders.(1-9) Several large-scale phylogenetic analyses have presented compelling evidence that monogamy preceded the evolution of cooperative breeding in a wide variety of nonhuman animals.(10-14) These studies have suggested that monogamy provides a general rule (the monogamy hypothesis) for explaining evolutionary transitions to cooperative breeding.(15) Given the prevalence of cooperative breeding in contemporary human societies, we evaluate whether this suggests a monogamous hominin past.
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