Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1)

Selection for long lifespan in men: benefits of grandfathering?




Julkaisun tekijätLahdenpera M, Russell AF, Lummaa V

KustantajaROYAL SOC

Julkaisuvuosi2007

JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimiPROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Lehden akronyymiP R SOC B

Volyymi274

Julkaisunumero1624

Aloitussivu2437

Lopetussivun numero2444

Sivujen määrä8

ISSN0962-8452

DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.0688


Tiivistelmä
Life-history theory suggests that individuals should live until their reproductive potential declines, and the lifespan of human men is consistent with this idea. However, because women can live long after menopause and this prolonged post-reproductive life can be explained, in part, by the fitness enhancing effects of grandmothering, an alternative hypothesis is that male lifespan is influenced by the potential to gain fitness through grandfathering. Here we investigate whether men, who could not gain fitness through reproduction after their wife's menopause (i.e. married only once), enhanced their fitness through grandfathering in historical Finns. Father presence was associated with reductions in offspring age at first reproduction and birth intervals, but generally not increases in reproductive tenure lengths. Father presence had little influence on offspring lifetime fecundity and no influence on offspring lifetime reproductive success. Overall, in contrast to our results for women in the same population, men do not gain extra fitness (i.e. more grandchildren) through grandfathering. Our results suggest that if evidence for a 'grandfather' hypothesis is lacking in a monogamous society, then its general importance in shaping male lifespan during our more promiscuous evolutionary past is likely to be negligible.


Last updated on 2021-24-06 at 12:03