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Season of Birth in Man. Contemporary Situation with Special Reference to Europe and the Southern Hemisphere
Author(s) -
Cowgill Ursula M.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1933939
Subject(s) - urbanization , industrialisation , southern hemisphere , geography , period (music) , seasonality , season of birth , demography , poverty , northern hemisphere , mediterranean climate , ecology , climatology , biology , sociology , economic growth , political science , archaeology , physics , geology , acoustics , law , economics
The season of birth in man appears to be meteorologically controlled thought minor minima of cultural origin are also apparent. The change of conception may be temperature dependent. The periodicity in the Southern Hemisphere is the reverse of that of the northern one. The Moslem Mediterranean region exhibits patters similar to southern Europe, as does Central America. The United States, Canada and Puerto Rico have a pattern that appears to be anomalous compared to the rest of the world. The seasonality of birth is a sensitive indicator of certain cultural and biological phenomena. The amplitude is increased by illegitimacy, death, belonging to a race other than Caucasian, war, depression, lack of industrialization, poverty of rural living. There is some indication, over time, that the mere process of urbanization and industrialization can cause the amplitude to behave in an erratic fashion. An hypothesis has been suggested to explain changes that have occurred during the past century. It is thought that the effect of urbanization is responsible for the change and in part the improvement of the standard of living has also be an influence. Spain and Sweden have shown no major variation in their season of birth for the period of time for which there are data.