A Natural History of FamiliesWhy do baby sharks, hyenas, and pelicans kill their siblings? Why do beetles and mice commit infanticide? Why are twins and birth defects more common in older human mothers? A Natural History of Families concisely examines what behavioral ecologists have discovered about family dynamics and what these insights might tell us about human biology and behavior. Scott Forbes's engaging account describes an uneasy union among family members in which rivalry for resources often has dramatic and even fatal consequences. In nature, parents invest resources and control the allocation of resources among their offspring to perpetuate their genetic lineage. Those families sometimes function as cooperative units, the nepotistic and loving havens we choose to identify with. In the natural world, however, dysfunctional familial behavior is disarmingly commonplace. While explaining why infanticide, fratricide, and other seemingly antisocial behaviors are necessary, Forbes also uncovers several surprising applications to humans. Here the conflict begins in the moments following conception as embryos struggle to wrest control of pregnancy from the mother, and to wring more nourishment from her than she can spare, thus triggering morning sickness, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Mothers, in return, often spontaneously abort embryos with severe genetic defects, allowing for prenatal quality control of offspring. Using a broad sweep of entertaining examples culled from the world of animals and humans, A Natural History of Families is a lively introduction to the behavioral ecology of the family. |
Contents
Blame Parents | 1 |
Do the Good Die Young? | 3 |
The Family Myth | 5 |
The Optimistic Parent | 9 |
How Many Babies? | 11 |
Core and Marginal Offspring | 16 |
The Evolution of Family Structure | 19 |
What Is Parental Optimism? | 21 |
Twinning as an Insurance Strategy | 112 |
Age Trisomy 21 and Twinning | 117 |
More Than Just Polyovulation | 118 |
Twinning and Individual Optimization | 121 |
Fit or Fat? | 124 |
Natural Selection on Twinning Frequency | 126 |
Brood Reduction before Birth? | 127 |
Fatal Sibling Rivalry | 129 |
Why Parental Optimism? | 23 |
Why Parents Play Favorites | 32 |
The Fivefold Advantage of Favoritism | 33 |
How Parents Play Favorites | 43 |
How Birds Play Favorites | 44 |
How Blackbirds Play Favorites | 45 |
How Marsupials Play Favorites | 47 |
Brood Reduction in Rabbits | 49 |
How Plants Play Favorites | 50 |
Different Species Same Idea | 51 |
Humans Play Favorites Too | 52 |
Family Conflict | 55 |
ParentOffspring Conflict | 57 |
Imprinted Genes in Humans | 62 |
Pregnancy Sickness and Genetic Conflict | 66 |
Selfishness Unconstrained | 78 |
Brood Parasitic Birds | 79 |
The Origins of Brood Parasitism | 81 |
Screening for Offspring Quality | 87 |
Sequential versus Simultaneous Progeny Choice | 88 |
Progeny Choice in Humans | 89 |
Adaptive Miscarriage | 90 |
Chromosomal Defects in Humans | 91 |
Birth Defects and Maternal Age | 96 |
The Origin of Genetic Defects | 105 |
Screening Maternal Age and the Role of Genomic Imprinting | 106 |
Maternal Age and Twinning | 108 |
Why Twins? | 109 |
Ultraselfish Alleles | 137 |
Human Twins | 139 |
Biological Influences | 144 |
Family Harmony | 147 |
Why Cooperation? | 148 |
Parental Optimism and the Evolution of Cooperation | 151 |
Adaptive Suicide? | 154 |
The Benefits of Teamwork | 156 |
The Ultimate Team Players | 157 |
Trophic Offspring | 160 |
Conflict When Necessary but Not Necessarily Conflict | 162 |
Cooperative Defense against Parents? | 166 |
Facilitation in Humans? | 167 |
Birth Order and Human Behavior | 168 |
Cannibalism and Infanticide | 171 |
The Pathways to Infanticide | 175 |
Infanticide in Families | 178 |
Brave New Worlds | 182 |
Artificial Parental Optimism and Infanticide | 184 |
Artificial Progeny Choice | 189 |
Refining Artificial Progeny Choice | 190 |
Send in the Clones | 192 |
Parental Optimism and the Law of Unintended Consequences | 194 |
Blame Parents | 195 |
Debunking the Family Myth | 197 |
| 201 | |
| 229 | |