Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 3, 2025
10:08
Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: May 18, 2022
3.5K
Somatic maintenance/reproduction tradeoffs and human evolution
1Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA hawkes@anthro.utah.edu.
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|July 25, 2022
Summary
Many diseases more common in women evolved as survival adaptations crucial for reproductive success. This study explores how reproduction-survival tradeoffs influenced human evolution compared to great apes.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Human evolution
- Reproductive science
Background:
- Sex differences in morbidity are common, with women experiencing higher rates of many conditions.
- These differences may reflect evolutionary pressures related to survival and reproduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hypothesis that higher female morbidity is an adaptation for enhanced survival, critical for maternal reproductive success.
- To explore variations in reproduction-survival tradeoffs in human evolution, drawing parallels with Darwinian concepts.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of sex-specific morbidity patterns.
- Evolutionary modeling of trade-offs between survival and reproduction.
- Examination of traits distinguishing humans from great apes through an evolutionary lens.
Main Results:
- The study supports the idea that certain morbidities in women are evolutionary adaptations favoring survival.
- Reproduction-survival tradeoffs appear to be a significant factor in the evolution of human-specific traits.
Conclusions:
- Female-biased morbidities may represent adaptive strategies for ensuring reproductive success through enhanced survival.
- Understanding these tradeoffs provides insight into the evolutionary divergence of humans from other great apes.
Related Concept Videos
00:51Energy Budgets
9.7K
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...
9.7K
01:38Limits to Natural Selection
32.0K
Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.
32.0K
01:06Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
166
The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
166
01:23Functions of Life
19.6K
Human life is characterized by a variety of functions that are essential for survival and well-being. These functions include metabolism, movement, development, growth and reproduction.
Metabolism
The basic function of an organism is to consume energy and molecules in foods, convert some of it into fuel for movement, sustain body functions, and build and maintain body structures. There are two types of reactions that accomplish this: anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism is the process whereby...
Metabolism
The basic function of an organism is to consume energy and molecules in foods, convert some of it into fuel for movement, sustain body functions, and build and maintain body structures. There are two types of reactions that accomplish this: anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism is the process whereby...
19.6K
01:20Mismatch Repair
5.1K
Organisms are capable of detecting and fixing nucleotide mismatches that occur during DNA replication. This sophisticated process requires identifying the new strand and replacing the erroneous bases with correct nucleotides. Mismatch repair is coordinated by many proteins in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
5.1K
01:20Evolutionary Psychology
386
Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
386