EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF HUMAN REPRODUCTION
- 1 October 1998
- journal article
- Published by Annual Reviews in Annual Review of Anthropology
- Vol. 27 (1) , 347-374
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.27.1.347
Abstract
▪ Abstract Evolutionary ecology of human reproduction is defined as the application of natural selection theory to the study of human reproductive strategies and decision-making in an ecological context. The basic Darwinian assumption is that humans—like all other organisms—are designed to maximize their inclusive fitness within the ecological constraints to which they are exposed. Life history theory, which identifies trade-off problems in reproductive investment, and evolutionary physiology and psychology, which analyzes the adaptive mechanisms regulating reproduction, are two crucial tools of evolutionary reproductive ecology. Advanced empirical insights have been obtained mainly with respect to the ecology of fecundity, fertility, child-care strategies, and differential parental investment. Much less is known about the ecology of nepotism and the postgenerative life span. The following three theoretical aspects, which are not well understood, belong to the desiderata of future improvement in evolution...Keywords
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