Human Evolutionary Demography: Introduction and Rationale

Abstract

Human evolutionary demography combines research in evolutionary biology with the study of human demographic patterns and behaviors. Evolutionary biology and demography share many conceptual features that give rise to a natural complementarity, such as a focus on the population as a unit of study and emphasis on aggregate processes that have implications for individuals. They also have distinct strengths that further this natural partnership. Evolutionary approaches are often top-down and theory driven, while demographic ones are more often bottom-up and driven by data and robust estimation procedures. We suggest that human evolutionary demography reflects these areas of overlap and complementary strengths while emphasizing at least two main objectives: understanding the role of evolutionary processes in shaping population-level demographic patterns (e.g., the evolution of age-specific patterns of mortality or fertility), and using an evolutionary approach to understand contemporary variation between individuals in demographic patterns (e.g., how and why does fertility respond to environmental influences, and vary between and within populations?).

Evolutionary demography is also inherently interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary approaches are vital to furthering our understanding of the complex processes underlying demographic patterns, in part because such approaches can be a disruptive force challenging researchers to question assumptions and see the world differently.

The papers in this volume demonstrate that integration of demography and evolutionary sciences strengthens both. This recognition by an ever-growing number of researchers has resulted in such a successful body of research that we are now able to showcase this field with this collection of papers, illustrating the vibrancy and diversity of research in human evolutionary demography.