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Rampelli S, Gallois S, D’Amico F, Turroni S, Fabbrini M, Scicchitano D, Candela M, Henry A. The gut microbiome of Baka forager-horticulturalists from Cameroon is optimized for wild plant foods. iScience 2024; 27:109211. [PMID: 38433907 PMCID: PMC10904984 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109211] [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: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The human gut microbiome is losing biodiversity, due to the "microbiome modernization process" that occurs with urbanization. To keep track of it, here we applied shotgun metagenomics to the gut microbiome of the Baka, a group of forager-horticulturalists from Cameroon, who combine hunting and gathering with growing a few crops and working for neighboring Bantu-speaking farmers. We analyzed the gut microbiome of individuals with different access to and use of wild plant and processed foods, to explore the variation of their gut microbiome along the cline from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence patterns. We found that 26 species-level genome bins from our cohort were pivotal for the degradation of the wild plant food substrates. These microbes include Old Friend species and are encoded for genes that are no longer present in industrialized gut microbiome. Our results highlight the potential relevance of these genes to human biology and health, in relation to lifestyle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Rampelli
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Sandrine Gallois
- Department of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, 2311 Leiden, the Netherlands
- Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, ST, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Federica D’Amico
- Microbiomics Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DiMeC), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
| | - Silvia Turroni
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Marco Fabbrini
- Microbiomics Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DiMeC), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
| | - Daniel Scicchitano
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Marco Candela
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Amanda Henry
- Department of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, 2311 Leiden, the Netherlands
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Jang H, Ross CT, Boyette AH, Janmaat KR, Kandza V, Redhead D. Women's subsistence networks scaffold cultural transmission among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadj2543. [PMID: 38198536 PMCID: PMC10780863 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj2543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
In hunter-gatherer societies, women's subsistence activities are crucial for food provisioning and children's social learning but are understudied relative to men's activities. To understand the structure of women's foraging networks, we present 230 days of focal-follow data in a BaYaka community. To analyze these data, we develop a stochastic blockmodel for repeat observations with uneven sampling. We find that women's subsistence networks are characterized by cooperation between kin, gender homophily, and mixed age-group composition. During early childhood, individuals preferentially coforage with adult kin, but those in middle childhood and adolescence are likely to coforage with nonkin peers, providing opportunities for horizontal learning. By quantifying the probability of coforaging ties across age classes and relatedness levels, our findings provide insights into the scope for social learning during women's subsistence activities in a real-world foraging population and provide ground-truth values for key parameters used in formal models of cumulative culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, 1 Esplanade de l'Université, 31080 Toulouse cedex 06, France
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karline R.L. Janmaat
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Vidrige Kandza
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel Redhead
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Sociology, University of Groningen, Grote Rozenstraat 31, 9712 TG Groningen, Netherlands
- Inter-University Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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Veen J, Jang H, Raubenheimer D, van Pinxteren BOCM, Kandza V, Meirmans PG, van Dam NM, Dunker S, Hoffmann P, Worrich A, Janmaat KRL. Development of embodied capital: Diet composition, foraging skills, and botanical knowledge of forager children in the Congo Basin. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.935987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The embodied capital theory states that the extended juvenile period has enabled human foragers to acquire the complex foraging skills and knowledge needed to obtain food. Yet we lack detailed data on how forager children develop these skills and knowledge. Here, we examine the seasonal diet composition, foraging behavior, and botanical knowledge of Mbendjele BaYaka forager children in the Republic of the Congo. Our data, acquired through long-term observations involving full-day focal follows, show a high level of seasonal fluctuation in diet and foraging activities of BaYaka children, in response to the seasonal availability of their food sources. BaYaka children foraged more than half of the time independent from adults, predominantly collecting and eating fruits, tubers, and seeds. For these most-consumed food types, we found an early onset of specialization of foraging skills in children, similar to the gendered division in foraging in adults. Specifically, children were more likely to eat fruit and seed species when there were more boys and men in the group, and girls were more likely than boys to collect tuber species. In a botanical knowledge test, children were more accurate at identifying plant food species with increasing age, and they used fruits and trunks for species identification, more so than using leaves and barks. These results show how the foraging activities of BaYaka children may facilitate the acquisition of foraging skills and botanical knowledge and provide insights into the development of embodied capital. Additionally, BaYaka children consumed agricultural foods more than forest foods, probably reflecting BaYaka’s transition into a horticultural lifestyle. This change in diet composition may have significant consequences for the cognitive development of BaYaka children.
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Chen Y, Ge E, Zhou L, Du J, Mace R. Sex inequality driven by dispersal. Curr Biol 2023; 33:464-473.e4. [PMID: 36626905 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Inequality between the sexes is pervasive both outside and inside the home. One contributing factor could be the dispersal of one sex at marriage that sets up sex-specific differences in relatedness to the group. Here we exploit the ecological diversity and different social structures found in southwest China to investigate the role of sex-biased dispersal on inequality in the sexual division of labor. We use a wearable fitness tracker and validated readings by confirming that participants' daily "steps" were positively correlated with time spent in high-energy activities, such as agriculture and animal husbandry work, and negatively correlated with low-energy activities, such as leisure and relaxation. We applied multilevel comparative approaches to examine the relative workload pattern between the sexes under different dispersal states. Our results reveal two characteristics that lead to an unfavorable division of workload: being female and dispersing at marriage. This is consistent with the hypothesis that males have increased bargaining power when remaining in their natal home, leading to inequality in workload.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, PRC; Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK.
| | - Erhao Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, PRC; Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Liqiong Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, PRC
| | - Juan Du
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, PRC.
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK; Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Université de Toulouse 1 Capitole, 31080 Toulouse Cedex 06, France.
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Boyette AH, Lew-Levy S, Valchy M, Gettler LT. Associations between men's reputations for fathering and their reproductive success among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
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