Maternal risk of breeding failure remained low throughout the demographic transitions in fertility and age at first reproduction in Finland.

ABSTRACT: Radical declines in fertility and postponement of first reproduction during the recent human demographic transitions have posed a challenge to interpreting human behaviour in evolutionary terms. This challenge has stemmed from insufficient evolutionary insight into individual reproductive decision-making and the rarity of datasets recording individual long-term reproductive success throughout the transitions. We use such data from about 2,000 Finnish mothers (first births: 1880s to 1970s) to show that changes in the maternal risk of breeding failure (no offspring raised to adulthood) underlay shifts in both fertility and first reproduction. With steady improvements in offspring survival, the expected fertility required to satisfy a low risk of breeding failure became lower and observed mat

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3329549 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature