The evolution of prolonged life after reproduction

Croft, Darren P.; Brent, Lauren J. N.; Franks, Daniel W.; Cant, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2015.04.011

Cited by 169 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Indeed, (grand)mothers increase (grand)offspring survival [91] or reproduction in humans [92]. More recently, PRLS is increasingly being studied in non-human systems [93][94][95][96][97], with some species showing extents of PRLS comparable with those found in humans [96].…”

Section: (D) Senescence and The Evolution Of Post-reproductive Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

What have humans done for evolutionary biology? Contributions from genes to populations

Briga¹,

Griffin²,

Berger³

et al. 2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Many fundamental concepts in evolutionary biology were discovered using non-human study systems. Humans are poorly suited to key study designs used to advance this field, and are subject to cultural, technological, and medical influences often considered to restrict the pertinence of human studies to other species and general contexts. Whether studies using current and recent human populations provide insights that have broader biological relevance in evolutionary biology is, therefore, frequently questioned. We first surveyed researchers in evolutionary biology and related fields on their opinions regarding whether studies on contemporary humans can advance evolutionary biology. Almost all 442 participants agreed that humans still evolve, but fewer agreed that this occurs through natural selection. Most agreed that human studies made valuable contributions to evolutionary biology, although those less exposed to human studies expressed more negative views. With a series of examples, we discuss strengths and limitations of evolutionary studies on contemporary humans. These show that human studies provide fundamental insights into evolutionary processes, improve understanding of the biology of many other species, and will make valuable contributions to evolutionary biology in the future.

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Section: (D) Senescence and The Evolution Of Post-reproductive Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

What have humans done for evolutionary biology? Contributions from genes to populations

Briga¹,

Griffin²,

Berger³

et al. 2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Accordingly, most vertebrates lose fecundity as they age and die soon after their reproductive periods end. Humans, orcas, and pilot whales are the only vertebrate species known to have prolonged postreproductive lifespans (1,2). In orcas, older members of the group influence the reproductive success and survival of subsequent generations, implying that activities of postreproductive individuals increase their inclusive fitness (3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-specific derived alleles of CD33 and other genes protect against postreproductive cognitive decline

Schwarz

Springer

Altheide

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The individuals of most vertebrate species die when they can no longer reproduce. Humans are a rare exception, having evolved a prolonged postreproductive lifespan. Elders contribute to cooperative offspring care, assist in foraging, and communicate important ecological and cultural knowledge, increasing the survival of younger individuals. Age-related deterioration of cognitive capacity in humans compromises these benefits and also burdens the group with socially costly members. We investigated the contribution of the immunoregulatory receptor CD33 to a uniquely human postreproductive disease, Alzheimer’s dementia. Surprisingly, even though selection at advanced age is expected to be weak, a CD33 allele protective against Alzheimer’s disease is derived and unique to humans and favors a functional molecular state of CD33 resembling that of the chimpanzee. Thus, derived alleles may be compensatory and restore interactions altered as a consequence of human-specific brain evolution. We found several other examples of derived alleles at other human loci that protect against age-related cognitive deterioration arising from neurodegenerative disease or cerebrovascular insufficiency. Selection by inclusive fitness may be strong enough to favor alleles protecting specifically against cognitive decline in postreproductive humans. Such selection would operate by maximizing the contributions of postreproductive individuals to the fitness of younger kin.

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“…However, this difference is overshadowed by a distinctive feature of human life history: Oldest ages at parturition are about the same in humans as in other living hominids, the great apes (4,5), whereas longevity is substantially greater and male fertility continues to older ages (6). Exceptional longevity with a distinctive postmenopausal life stage (7)(8)(9) may have evolved in our lineage when grandmothers' subsidies for weaned dependents allowed mothers to have next babies sooner. According to this grandmother hypothesis (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), longevity increased as longer-lived grandmothers could help more and so left more longer-lived descendants of both sexes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grandmothering life histories and human pair bonding

Coxworth

Kim

McQueen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The evolution of distinctively human life history and social organization is generally attributed to paternal provisioning based on pair bonds. Here we develop an alternative argument that connects the evolution of human pair bonds to the male-biased mating sex ratios that accompanied the evolution of human life history. We simulate an agent-based model of the grandmother hypothesis, compare simulated sex ratios to data on great apes and human hunter-gatherers, and note associations between a preponderance of males and mate guarding across taxa. Then we explore a recent model that highlights the importance of mating sex ratios for differences between birds and mammals and conclude that lessons for human evolution cannot ignore mammalian reproductive constraints. In contradiction to our claim that male-biased sex ratios are characteristically human, female-biased ratios are reported in some populations. We consider the likelihood that fertile men are undercounted and conclude that the mate-guarding hypothesis for human pair bonds gains strength from explicit links with our grandmothering life history.grandmother hypothesis | human life history | human evolution | mate guarding | mating sex ratios W e call attention to evidence that connects the evolution of human pair bonds to the male-biased sex ratios in fertile ages that characterize human populations. As in mammals generally, age-specific mortality is higher in males than in females (e.g., refs. 1-3). However, this difference is overshadowed by a distinctive feature of human life history: Oldest ages at parturition are about the same in humans as in other living hominids, the great apes (4, 5), whereas longevity is substantially greater and male fertility continues to older ages (6). Exceptional longevity with a distinctive postmenopausal life stage (7-9) may have evolved in our lineage when grandmothers' subsidies for weaned dependents allowed mothers to have next babies sooner. According to this grandmother hypothesis (10-16), longevity increased as longer-lived grandmothers could help more and so left more longer-lived descendants of both sexes. Women's postfertile life stage (7) produces a bias in the sex ratio of fertile adults with repercussions for male strategies. As longevity increased, olderaged males expanded the pool of competitors for the still-fertile females. With more competitors for each paternity, males' average success in finding new mates inevitably declined until defending a current mate became the better option. Our distinctive life history thus supplies previously unrecognized support for a mate-guarding hypothesis for the evolution of human pair bonds.Here we simulate hominid mating sex ratios with an agent-based model of the evolution of human longevity via grandmothering (13, 15). We then compare simulated sex ratios to demographic data from both great apes and human hunter-gatherers. Having identified the human bias, we connect it to increased male payoffs for mate guarding, noting some broad patterns in humans, the tradeoffs observ...

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The evolution of prolonged life after reproduction

Cited by 169 publications

References 99 publications

What have humans done for evolutionary biology? Contributions from genes to populations

What have humans done for evolutionary biology? Contributions from genes to populations

Human-specific derived alleles of CD33 and other genes protect against postreproductive cognitive decline

Grandmothering life histories and human pair bonding

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