Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland
How to optimally allocate time, energy and investment in an effort to maximize one's reproductive success is a fundamental problem faced by all organisms. This effort is complicated when the production of each additional offspring dilutes the total resources available for parental investment. A...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.160087 2024-09-15T18:14:08+00:00 Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland Lynch, Robert Francis Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers University Fulbright Iceland 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160087 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160087 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.160087 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 3, issue 5, page 160087 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2016 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160087 2024-08-19T04:24:53Z How to optimally allocate time, energy and investment in an effort to maximize one's reproductive success is a fundamental problem faced by all organisms. This effort is complicated when the production of each additional offspring dilutes the total resources available for parental investment. Although a quantity–quality trade-off between producing and investing in offspring has long been assumed in evolutionary biology, testing it directly in humans is difficult, partly owing to the long generation time of our species. Using data from an Icelandic genealogy (Íslendingabók) over two centuries, I address this issue and analyse the quantity–quality trade-off in humans. I demonstrate that the primary impact of parents on the fitness of their children is the result of resources and or investment, but not genes. This effect changes significantly across time, in response to environmental conditions. Overall, increasing reproduction has negative fitness consequences on offspring, such that each additional sibling reduces an individual's average lifespan and lifetime reproductive success. This analysis provides insights into the evolutionary conflict between producing and investing in children while also shedding light on some of the causes of the demographic transition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland The Royal Society Royal Society Open Science 3 5 160087 |
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English |
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How to optimally allocate time, energy and investment in an effort to maximize one's reproductive success is a fundamental problem faced by all organisms. This effort is complicated when the production of each additional offspring dilutes the total resources available for parental investment. Although a quantity–quality trade-off between producing and investing in offspring has long been assumed in evolutionary biology, testing it directly in humans is difficult, partly owing to the long generation time of our species. Using data from an Icelandic genealogy (Íslendingabók) over two centuries, I address this issue and analyse the quantity–quality trade-off in humans. I demonstrate that the primary impact of parents on the fitness of their children is the result of resources and or investment, but not genes. This effect changes significantly across time, in response to environmental conditions. Overall, increasing reproduction has negative fitness consequences on offspring, such that each additional sibling reduces an individual's average lifespan and lifetime reproductive success. This analysis provides insights into the evolutionary conflict between producing and investing in children while also shedding light on some of the causes of the demographic transition. |
author2 |
Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers University Fulbright Iceland |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lynch, Robert Francis |
spellingShingle |
Lynch, Robert Francis Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
author_facet |
Lynch, Robert Francis |
author_sort |
Lynch, Robert Francis |
title |
Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
title_short |
Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
title_full |
Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in Iceland |
title_sort |
parents face quantity–quality trade-offs between reproduction and investment in offspring in iceland |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160087 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160087 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.160087 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 3, issue 5, page 160087 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160087 |
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Royal Society Open Science |
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3 |
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5 |
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160087 |
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1810451911537590272 |