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Menopause: why does fertility end before life?




Julkaisun tekijätLahdenpera M, Lummaa V, Russell AF

KustantajaINFORMA HEALTHCARE

Julkaisuvuosi2004

JournalClimacteric

Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimiCLIMACTERIC

Lehden akronyymiCLIMACTERIC

Volyymi7

Julkaisunumero4

Aloitussivu327

Lopetussivun numero331

Sivujen määrä5

ISSN1369-7137

DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13697130400012205


Tiivistelmä
Menopause is associated with an ultimate cessation of child-bearing potential. Medical research on menopause focuses mostly on the underlying physiological changes associated with menopause. By contrast, evolutionary biologists are interested in understanding why women lose their potential to reproduce before the end of their lives. Evolution by natural selection predicts that the behaviors that we observe today are products of generations of selection on the genes that govern those behaviors. Since one would expect an individual reproducing throughout its life to produce more offspring than an individual stopping early, one would seldom expect genes for menopause to be selected for during our evolutionary past. This article discusses how menopause and prolonged lifespan might be explained by evolutionary theory, and highlights some angles for future research.


Last updated on 2021-24-06 at 08:40