Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction.

ABSTRACT: The replacement of Neanderthals by Anatomically Modern Humans has typically been attributed to environmental pressure or a superiority of modern humans with respect to competition for resources. Here we present two independent models that suggest that no such heatedly debated factors might be needed to account for the demise of Neanderthals. Starting from the observation that Neanderthal populations already were small before the arrival of modern humans, the models implement three factors that conservation biology identifies as critical for a small population's persistence, namely inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity. Our results indicate that the disappearance of Neanderthals might have resided in the smallness of their population(s) alone: even if they had been identical to modern

SUBMITTER: Vaesen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6880983 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature