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17. Human Mortality from Beginning to End: What Does Natural Selection Have to Do with It?

Chapter of: Human Evolutionary Demography(pp. 379–398)

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Metadata
Title17. Human Mortality from Beginning to End
SubtitleWhat Does Natural Selection Have to Do with It?
ContributorSteven Hecht Orzack(author)
Daniel Levitis(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0251.17
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0251/chapters/10.11647/obp.0251.17
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
CopyrightSteven Hecht Orzack; Daniel Levitis;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-06-14
Long abstractEvolutionary demographers who study human traits usually focus solely on natural selection as a cause of the trait’s evolution. However, demographic stochasticity, genetic drift, and phylogenetic inertia can also significantly influence trait evolution. We describe why accounting for these influences is necessary in order to correctly test hypotheses about the adaptive nature of human demographic traits. For example, “U”-shaped mortality from the beginning to the end of life is found in many vertebrates, which implies that phylogeny must be considered in understanding its evolution of this trait in humans. Even when these other evolutionary influences have negligible effects on a human demographic trait, it is incorrect to assume that the observed trait must be optimal. Current data and analyses are not sufficient to properly confirm the claim that “U”-shaped mortality rate in humans is the result of natural selection in humans or that it is optimal. We describe the additional data and analyses that are needed in order to properly test these claims.
Page rangepp. 379–398
Print length20 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Steven Hecht Orzack

(author)
Senior Research Scientist at Fresh Pond Research Institute
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4993-3368

Steven Orzack is a Senior Research Scientist at the Fresh Pond Research Institute. His research interests include demography, ecology, evolution, the history of biology, and the philosophy of biology.

Daniel Levitis

(author)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6242-0938

Dan Levitis is an evolutionary demographer and zoologist. He works to understand broadly occurring aspects of age-specific mortality including pre-reproductive mortality and post-reproductive survival.

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