These authors contributed equally to this work.
Letter
You have free access to this content
Severe intergenerational reproductive conflict and the evolution of menopause
Article first published online: 22 AUG 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01851.x
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS
Additional Information
How to Cite
Ecology Letters (2012) 15: 1283–1290
- †
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 1 OCT 2012
- Article first published online: 22 AUG 2012
- Manuscript Accepted: 19 JUL 2012
- Manuscript Revised: 17 JUL 2012
- Manuscript Revised: 10 MAY 2012
- Manuscript Received: 10 APR 2012
References
- , , , , , et al. (2011). Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality. Nature, 471, E1–E4.
- (2004). Residence groups among hunter-gatherers: a view of the claims and evidence for patrilocal bands. In: Kinship and Behavior in Primates (eds Chapais, B. & Berman, C.M.). Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 420–442.
- & (2003). Power over reproduction in social hymenoptera. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B., 358, 1741–1753.
- & (2005). Energy requirements during pregnancy and lactation. Pub. Health Nutrition, 8, 1010–1027.
- , , & (2010). Natural selection in a contemporary human population. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107, 1787–1792.
- & (2008). Reproductive conflict and the separation of reproductive generations in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 5332–5336.
- , & (2009). Reproductive skew and the evolution of menopause. In: Reproductive Skew in Vertebrates: Proximate and Ultimate Causes (eds Hager, R. & Jones, C.B.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 24–50.
- (1994). Evolution in Age-Structured Populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- & (1991). Monogamy and polygyny in Southeast Arnhem-Land – Male Coercion and female choice. Ethol. Sociobiol., 12, 291–313.
- & (2011). Cooperative breeding: a role of climate variability? Curr. Biol., 21, Dispatch R195–R197.
- , & (2009). Routes to indirect fitness in cooperatively breeding vertebrates: kin discrimination and limited dispersal. J. Evol. Biol., 22, 2445–2457.
- , , , & (2012). Natural and sexual selection in a monogamous historical human population. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 8044–8049.
- (1995). An evolutionary theory of the family. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92, 8092–8099.
- (1994). Economic growth, population theory, and physiology: the bearing of long-term processes on the making of economic policy. Am. Econom. Review, 84, 369–395.
- , & (1974). Family formation and frequency of various kinship relationships. Theor. Pop. Biol., 5, 1–27.
- & (2007). Hunter-gatherer longevity: cross-cultural perspectives. Popul. Dev. Rev., 33, 321–365.
- (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour I. J. Theor. Biol., 7, 1–16.
- , , , & (1998). Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 95, 1336–1339.
- , & (2005). Are reproductive and somatic senescence coupled in humans? Late, but not early, reproduction correlated with longevity in historical Sami women? Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 272, 29–37.
- & (1991). The evolution of premature reproductive senescence and menopause in human females: an evaluation of the ‘Grandmother Hypothesis’. Hum. Nat., 2, 313–349.
- (2009). Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. Harvard University Press, Harvard, MA, USA.
- (2009). Reproduction and lifespan: trade-offs, overall energy budgets, intergenerational costs, and costs neglected by research. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 21, 524–532.
- (2003). Human life histories and the demographic transition: a case study from Finland, 1870-1949. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 120, 384–390.
- (2005). Children's help and the pace of reproduction: cooperative breeding in humans. Evol. Anthropol., 14, 224–237.
- , , , & (2004). Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women. Nature, 428, 178–181.
- , , & (2011a). Selection on menopause in two premodern human populations: no evidence for the mother hypothesis. Evolution, 65, 476–489.
- , & (2011b). Selection on male longevity in a monogamous human population: late-life survival brings no additional grandchildren. J. Evol. Biol., 24, 1053–1063.
- (1992). Decreased birthweights in infants after maternal in utero exposure to the Dutch famine of 1944–1945. Paediatr. Perinat. Epidemiol., 6, 240–253.Direct Link:
- (2003). Reproductive success and early developmental conditions in humans: downstream effects of pre-natal famine, birth weight and timing of birth. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 15, 370–379.
- & (2012). Female reproductive competition within families in rural Gambia. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 279, 2219–2227.
- (2004). Marital residence among foragers. Curr. Anthropol., 45, 277–284.
- (1984). On the definition and measure of inclusive fitness and the evolution of menopause –reply. Hum. Ecol., 12, 93–99.
- (2003). Hamilton goes empirical: estimation of inclusive fitness from life-history data. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 270, 307–311.
- , & (2008). Senescence of reproduction may explain adaptive menopause in humans: a test of the mother hypothesis. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 136, 194–203.
- (2001). Menopause: adaptation or epiphenomenon? Evol. Anthropol., 10, 43–57.
- (1993). Why menopause? Evol. Ecol., 7, 406–426.
- , , , & (2011). Hungry in the womb: what are the consequences? Lessons from the Dutch famine. Maturitas, 70, 141–145.
- (2004). Genetic Structure and Selection in Subdivided Populations. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
- (2011). Spatiotemporal environmental variation, risk aversion, and the evolution of cooperative breeding as a bet-hedging strategy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108, 10816–10822.
- (2004). Mammals: comparisons and contrasts. In: Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds (eds Koenig, W.D. & Dickinson, J.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 210–227.
- , & (2010). Suomen terveydenhuoltojärjestelmän ja sairaaloiden kehittyminen. Vaatimattomista oloista modernin terveydenhuollon eturintamaan. Kasvatus & Aika, 3, 25–41.
- & (2008). Who keeps offspring alive? A review of the effects of kin on offspring survival. Evol. Hum. Behav., 29, 1–18.
- , & (2000). Maternal grandmothers improve nutritional status and survival of offspring in rural Gambia. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B., 267, 1641–1647.
- & (2001). Evolution of the human menopause. BioEssays, 23, 282–287.
- , , & (2007). Testing evolutionary theories of menopause. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B., 274, 2943–2949.
- (1974). Old traditional Agriculture in Finland in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Forssan Kirjapaino Oy, Forssa.
- , & (2005). Grandmotherhood: The Evolutionary Significance of the Second Half of Female Life. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
- , , , , , et al. (2006). Cooperation and the scale of competition in humans. Curr. Biol., 16, 1103–1106.
- (1957). Pleiotropy, natural selection and the evolution of senescence. Evolution, 11, 398–411.
- (1971). The Insect Societies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.

1461-0248/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=3cdd97f41173d141f3f51773629729a6ad3be0ef)
1461-0248/asset/ele_centre.gif?v=1&s=8f1a28c45a6b32f9407a8bd9efb9c5b2aaffe521)
