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Human origins and the transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 2012-06, Vol.109 (25), p.9923-9928 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

copyright © 1993-2008 National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ;Copyright National Academy of Sciences Jun 19, 2012 ;ISSN: 0027-8424 ;EISSN: 1091-6490 ;DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200717109 ;PMID: 22645330

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  • Title:
    Human origins and the transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding
  • Author: Gavrilets, Sergey
  • Subjects: Biological Sciences ; Chimpanzees ; Conflict (Psychology) ; Ecological competition ; Evolution ; Evolution & development ; Female ; Female animals ; Female fertility ; females ; Foraging behavior ; Humans ; Male ; Male animals ; males ; Mating behavior ; Monogamy ; Personal relationships ; progeny ; Promiscuity ; Reproduction ; Sexual Behavior ; Social Sciences ; survival rate ; Transitions
  • Is Part Of: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 2012-06, Vol.109 (25), p.9923-9928
  • Description: A crucial step in recent theories of human origins is the emergence of strong pair-bonding between males and females accompanied by a dramatic reduction in the male-to-male conflict over mating and an increased investment in offspring. How such a transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding could be achieved is puzzling. Many species would, indeed, be much better off evolutionarily if the effort spent on male competition over mating was redirected to increasing female fertility or survivorship of offspring. Males, however, are locked in a “social dilemma,” where shifting one’s effort from “appropriation” to “production” would give an advantage to free-riding competitors and therefore, should not happen. Here, I first consider simple models for four prominent scenarios of the human transition to pair-bonding: communal care, mate guarding, food for mating, and mate provisioning. I show that the transition is not feasible under biologically relevant conditions in any of these models. Then, I show that the transition can happen if one accounts for male heterogeneity, assortative pair formation, and evolution of female choice and faithfulness. This process is started when low-ranked males begin using an alternative strategy of female provisioning. At the end, except for the top-ranked individuals, males invest exclusively in provisioning females who have evolved very high fidelity to their mates. My results point to the crucial importance of female choice and emphasize the need for incorporating between-individual variation in theoretical and empirical studies of social dilemmas and behaviors.
  • Publisher: United States: National Academy of Sciences
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0027-8424
    EISSN: 1091-6490
    DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200717109
    PMID: 22645330
  • Source: Freely Accessible Journals
    MEDLINE
    PubMed Central

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