Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons
The birth sex ratio of vertebrates with chromosomal sex determination has been shown to respond to environmental variability, such as temperature. However, in humans the few previous studies on environmental temperature and birth sex ratios have produced mixed results. We examined whether reconstruc...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 |
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fteawag:oai:dora:eawag_5651 2024-09-15T18:25:38+00:00 Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons Helle, Samuli Helama, Samuli Jokela, Jukka 2008 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 eng eng Royal Society Biology Letters--Biol. Lett.--journals:360--1744-9561--1744-957X eawag:5651 journal id: journals:360 issn: 1744-9561 e-issn: 1744-957X ut: 000252212900018 local: 11306 scopus: 2-s2.0-40949143623 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 pmid: 18042510 climatic reconstruction parental age time-series analysis Text Journal Article 2008 fteawag https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 2024-08-05T03:04:28Z The birth sex ratio of vertebrates with chromosomal sex determination has been shown to respond to environmental variability, such as temperature. However, in humans the few previous studies on environmental temperature and birth sex ratios have produced mixed results. We examined whether reconstructed annualmean temperatures were associated with annual offspring sex ratio at birth in the eighteenth to nineteenth century Sami from northern Finland. We found that warmyears correlated with a malebiased sex ratio, whereas a warm previous year skewed sex ratio towards females. The net effect of one degree Celsius increase in mean temperature during these 2 years corresponded to approximately 1% more sons born annually. Although the physiological and ecological mechanisms mediating these effects and their evolutionary consequences on parental fitness remain unknown, our results show that environmental temperature may affect human birth sex ratio. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Finland sami DORA Eawag Biology Letters 4 1 60 62 |
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language |
English |
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climatic reconstruction parental age time-series analysis |
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climatic reconstruction parental age time-series analysis Helle, Samuli Helama, Samuli Jokela, Jukka Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
topic_facet |
climatic reconstruction parental age time-series analysis |
description |
The birth sex ratio of vertebrates with chromosomal sex determination has been shown to respond to environmental variability, such as temperature. However, in humans the few previous studies on environmental temperature and birth sex ratios have produced mixed results. We examined whether reconstructed annualmean temperatures were associated with annual offspring sex ratio at birth in the eighteenth to nineteenth century Sami from northern Finland. We found that warmyears correlated with a malebiased sex ratio, whereas a warm previous year skewed sex ratio towards females. The net effect of one degree Celsius increase in mean temperature during these 2 years corresponded to approximately 1% more sons born annually. Although the physiological and ecological mechanisms mediating these effects and their evolutionary consequences on parental fitness remain unknown, our results show that environmental temperature may affect human birth sex ratio. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Helle, Samuli Helama, Samuli Jokela, Jukka |
author_facet |
Helle, Samuli Helama, Samuli Jokela, Jukka |
author_sort |
Helle, Samuli |
title |
Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
title_short |
Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
title_full |
Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
title_fullStr |
Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical Sami: warm years bring more sons |
title_sort |
temperature-related birth sex ratio bias in historical sami: warm years bring more sons |
publisher |
Royal Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 |
genre |
Northern Finland sami |
genre_facet |
Northern Finland sami |
op_relation |
Biology Letters--Biol. Lett.--journals:360--1744-9561--1744-957X eawag:5651 journal id: journals:360 issn: 1744-9561 e-issn: 1744-957X ut: 000252212900018 local: 11306 scopus: 2-s2.0-40949143623 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 pmid: 18042510 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0482 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
60 |
op_container_end_page |
62 |
_version_ |
1810466126485782528 |