Topic
Reproductive value
About: Reproductive value is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 594 publications have been published within this topic receiving 46750 citations.
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TL;DR: In this article, age and size at maturity at maturity number and size of offspring Reproductive lifespan and ageing are discussed. But the authors focus on the effects of age and stage structure on fertility.
Abstract: Prologue Part I: Evolutionary explanation Demography: age and stage structure Quantitative genetics and reaction norms Trade-offs Lineage-specific effects Part II: Age and size at maturity Number and size of offspring Reproductive lifespan and ageing Appendices Glossary References Author index Subject index.
10,338 citations
TL;DR: A basis for the theory that senescence is an inevitable outcome of evolution is established and the model shows that higher fertility will be a primary factor leading to the evolution of higher rates ofsenescence unless the resulting extra mortality is confined to the immature period.
1,966 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential that influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.
Abstract: Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25- to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection. Evolutionary theories of human mate selection contend that both men and women select mating partners who enable them to enhance reproductive success. Differential reproductive conditions and physiological constraints in men and women, however, induce different gender-specific sexual and reproductive strategies. In general, a woman can increase her reproductive success by choosing a high-status man who controls resources and, hence, can provide material security to successfully raise
1,184 citations
TL;DR: Dynamic models of quantitative (polygenic) characters are more generally applicable in the analysis of life history evolution than are static optimization methods or one and two locus genetic models.
Abstract: Dynamic models of quantitative (polygenic) characters are more generally applicable in the analysis of life history evolution than are static optimization methods or one and two locus genetic models. A dynamic theory of life history evolution is derived by synthesizing population demography with quantitative genetics. In a population under weak selection with a nearly stable age distribution, the relative fitness of individuals with a particular life history phenotype can be approximated as an average of age—specific relative fecundity and mortality rates, weighted respectively by the present productivity and future reproductive value of each age—class. An adaptive topography is constructed showing that, with phenotype— and age—specific fecundity and mortality rates constant in time, evolution of the mean life history maximizes the intrinsic rate of increase of a population. However, the rate and direction of evolution in response to selection are strongly influenced by genetic correlations among characters. Negative genetic correlations among major components of fitness are often obscured phenotypically by positive environmental correlations, but commonly constitute the ultimate constraint on life history evolution, as illustrated by artificial selection experiments. Methods are suggested for measuring selective forces and evolutionary constraints that effect life history characters in natural populations.
945 citations
TL;DR: Though the long-lived birds and mammals are among the most promising organisms on which to test the theory that reproductive effort increases with age, measures of fecundity commonly decline with increasing maternal age, some recent evidence suggests that offspring survival may improve toward the end of the lifespan.
Abstract: Though it has been widely predicted that in animals in which reproductive value declines with age, reproductive effort should increase toward the end of the lifespan, analysis of changes in reproductive effort are impeded by fundamental difficulties in measuring the costs of reproduction. Energetic measures may not reflect the effects of breeding on subsequent survival and breeding success, especially in organisms in which body size increases with age, while attempts to estimate reproductive costs directly are complicated by positive correlations between breeding success and parental survival. Though the long-lived birds and mammals are among the most promising organisms on which to test the theory that reproductive effort increases with age, measures of fecundity commonly decline with increasing maternal age. Some recent evidence suggests, however, that offspring survival may improve toward the end of the lifespan.
834 citations