The importance of life history and population regulation for the evolution of social learning.

ABSTRACT: Social learning and life history interact in human adaptation, but nearly all models of the evolution of social learning omit age structure and population regulation. Further progress is hindered by a poor appreciation of how life history affects selection on learning. We discuss why life history and age structure are important for social learning and present an exemplary model of the evolution of social learning in which demographic properties of the population arise endogenously from assumptions about per capita vital rates and different forms of population regulation. We find that, counterintuitively, a stronger reliance on social learning is favoured in organisms characterized by 'fast' life histories with high mortality and fertility rates compared to 'slower' life histories ty

SUBMITTER: Deffner D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7293155 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature