European hair and eye color
Human hair and eye color is unusually diverse in northern and eastern Europe. The many alleles involved (at least seven for hair color) and their independent origin over a short span of evolutionary time indicate some kind of selection. Sexual selection is particularly indicated because it is known...
Published in: | Evolution and Human Behavior |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 |
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:889906 2024-09-15T18:39:48+00:00 European hair and eye color Frost, Peter 2006-03-01 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 unknown Zenodo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 oai:zenodo.org:889906 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other (Open) info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2006 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 2024-07-25T21:59:36Z Human hair and eye color is unusually diverse in northern and eastern Europe. The many alleles involved (at least seven for hair color) and their independent origin over a short span of evolutionary time indicate some kind of selection. Sexual selection is particularly indicated because it is known to favor color traits and color polymorphisms. In addition, hair and eye color is most diverse in what used to be, when first peopled by hunter-gatherers, a unique ecozone of low-latitude continental tundra. This type of environment skews the operational sex ratio (OSR) of hunter-gatherers toward a male shortage in two ways: (1) men have to hunt highly mobile and spatially concentrated herbivores over longer distances, with no alternate food sources in case of failure, the result being more deaths among young men; (2) women have fewer opportunities for food gathering and thus require more male provisioning, the result being less polygyny. These two factors combine to leave more women than men unmated at any one time. Such an OSR imbalance would have increased the pressures of sexual selection on early European women, one possible outcome being an unusual complex of color traits: hair- and eye-color diversity and, possibly, extreme skin depigmentation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Zenodo Evolution and Human Behavior 27 2 85 103 |
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Human hair and eye color is unusually diverse in northern and eastern Europe. The many alleles involved (at least seven for hair color) and their independent origin over a short span of evolutionary time indicate some kind of selection. Sexual selection is particularly indicated because it is known to favor color traits and color polymorphisms. In addition, hair and eye color is most diverse in what used to be, when first peopled by hunter-gatherers, a unique ecozone of low-latitude continental tundra. This type of environment skews the operational sex ratio (OSR) of hunter-gatherers toward a male shortage in two ways: (1) men have to hunt highly mobile and spatially concentrated herbivores over longer distances, with no alternate food sources in case of failure, the result being more deaths among young men; (2) women have fewer opportunities for food gathering and thus require more male provisioning, the result being less polygyny. These two factors combine to leave more women than men unmated at any one time. Such an OSR imbalance would have increased the pressures of sexual selection on early European women, one possible outcome being an unusual complex of color traits: hair- and eye-color diversity and, possibly, extreme skin depigmentation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frost, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Frost, Peter European hair and eye color |
author_facet |
Frost, Peter |
author_sort |
Frost, Peter |
title |
European hair and eye color |
title_short |
European hair and eye color |
title_full |
European hair and eye color |
title_fullStr |
European hair and eye color |
title_full_unstemmed |
European hair and eye color |
title_sort |
european hair and eye color |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 oai:zenodo.org:889906 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other (Open) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.07.002 |
container_title |
Evolution and Human Behavior |
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27 |
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2 |
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85 |
op_container_end_page |
103 |
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1810484146075598848 |