Citation:
 | emph-2014-haig-12-7.pdf | 128 KB |
Date Published:
JanAbstract:
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Interbirth intervals (IBIs) mediate a trade-off between child number and child survival. Life history theory predicts that the evolutionarily optimal IBI differs for different individuals whose fitness is affected by how closely a mother spaces her children. The objective of the article is to clarify these conflicts and explore their implications for public health. METHODOLOGY: Simple models of inclusive fitness and kin conflict address the evolution of human birth-spacing. RESULTS: Genes of infants generally favor longer intervals than genes of mothers, and infant genes of paternal origin generally favor longer IBIs than genes of maternal origin. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The colonization of maternal bodies by offspring cells (fetal microchimerism) raises the possibility that cells of older offspring could extend IBIs by interfering with the implantation of subsequent embryos.
Notes:
Haig, DavidengEngland2014/02/01 06:00Evol Med Public Health. 2014 Jan;2014(1):12-7. doi: 10.1093/emph/eou002. Epub 2014 Jan 16.