The effects of resource availability and the demographic transition on the genetic correlation between number of children and grandchildren in humans.

ABSTRACT: Studies of evolutionary change require an estimate of fitness, and lifetime reproductive success is widely used for this purpose. However, many species face a trade-off between the number and quality of offspring and in such cases number of grandoffspring may better represent the genetic contribution to future generations. Here, we apply quantitative genetic methods to a genealogical data set on humans from Finland to address how the genetic correlation between number of children and grandchildren is influenced by the severity of the trade-off between offspring quality and quantity, as estimated by different levels of resource access among individuals in the population. Further, we compare the genetic correlation before and after the demographic transition to low mortality and fertility ra

SUBMITTER: Bolund E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5234483 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature