The Population Problem: Biological Anthropology and the Many Definitions of a Population

With a focus on variability, biological anthropology has nominally centered the population as a key unit of analysis and node of evolutionary change. In this paper, we examine constructions of the population concept in contemporary research, with particular attention to the challenges they present in typology, the conflation of place and organism, and tractability.

We carry out a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the use of "population" as a term within the AJBA from 2013 to 2022. We identify 739 publications, or approximately one-third of AJBA publications during that time period, that use the term within their abstract. For each of these publications, we categorize the subfield, time period of interest, sample size, and the use of population within the article.

The use of the term population within contemporary biological anthropology is highly variable, with large variation in sample sizes, time range, and the biological characteristics used to identify a population. Although populations are widely employed across subfields, there is no consistency in how that term is used, the variability it represents, or how it might operate as an evolutionary category.

The lack of theoretical and practical coherence is a problem for the discipline. While there is no singular and correct definition of the term, from an evolutionary perspective, populations should be clearly presented and reflective of a hypothesis of evolutionary action.