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Aping our ancestors: Comparative aspects of reproductive ecology
Author(s) -
Bentley Gillian R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1999)7:5<175::aid-evan3>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - ecology , biology , reproduction , limiting , affect (linguistics) , famine , life history , geography , sociology , mechanical engineering , communication , archaeology , engineering
There are many similarities among mammalian species in how ecological factors affect their reproductive potential and individual life histories. One of the most important limiting factors is the availability of sufficient resources to partition among essential growth, maintenance, and eventual reproduction. 1–3 How each mammal juggles these constraints constitutes its unique life history and determines its success as a species. Yet, as Hill and Hurtado 4 recently argued, life‐history analyses are rarely applied to human reproduction. In fact, despite the demonstrated significance of adequate nutrition for reproductive performance among most mammalian species that have been studied, 1,3,5 many demographers, and even some biological anthropologists, have resisted the idea that humans, except under extreme famine conditions, might be subject to the same kinds of nutritional constraints that affect other mammals. 6–9 .