Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2025
06:17
Author Spotlight: Advancing Primatology Through Germ Cell Research and Genetic Modification Techniques
Published on: July 5, 2024
1.3K
Reproductive seasonality in the Baka Pygmies, environmental factors and climatic changes
Laura Piqué-Fandiño1, Sandrine Gallois2, Samuel Pavard1
1Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France.
Plos One
|March 8, 2022
Summary
Climate change impacts Baka Pygmy reproductive seasonality. Precipitation and temperature shifts influence birth patterns, highlighting the need to study global climate change effects on forager societies.
Area of Science:
- Human reproductive ecology
- Anthropology
- Climate change studies
Background:
- Reproductive seasonality is influenced by climatic variables in many populations.
- Few studies have examined reproductive seasonality in hunter-gatherer societies, especially concerning climate change.
- The Baka Pygmy people of African rainforests provide a unique case study for this research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate reproductive seasonality in the Baka Pygmy population.
- To assess the influence of changing weather patterns and climate variables on their reproductive timing.
- To understand the broader implications of global climate change for forager societies.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 34 years of written birth records.
- 13 years of systematic fieldwork involving oral questionnaires.
- Correlation of reproductive patterns with climatic variables like precipitation and temperature.
Main Results:
- A bimodal birth pattern was observed, with two peaks approximately six months apart.
- Precipitation showed a negative effect at conception and a positive effect at birth on monthly births.
- Temperature influences other variables that impact the Baka's reproductive seasonality.
Conclusions:
- Changing weather patterns are demonstrably affecting the reproductive seasonality of the Baka Pygmy.
- Global climate change may have significant consequences for the reproductive strategies of forager communities.
- Further attention is required to understand these impacts on vulnerable societies.
Related Concept Videos
02:45Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
39.5K
The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.
39.5K
00:51Energy Budgets
9.8K
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...
9.8K
02:27Background and Environment Affect Phenotype
6.8K
Although the genetic makeup of an organism plays a major role in determining the phenotype, there are also several environmental factors, such as temperature, oxygen availability, presence of mutagens, that can alter an organism’s phenotype.
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
6.8K
01:29Life Histories
20.7K
Overview
20.7K
00:53Migration
8.1K
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
8.1K
01:50Global Climate Change
24.9K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
24.9K