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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090302T000000
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DTSTAMP:20201013T004831Z
CREATED:20200922T214328Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z
UID:4094-1235952000-1235952000@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Patricia Gowaty - It's About Time: Reproductive Decisions Under Ecological and Fitness Constraints
DESCRIPTION:Patricia Gowaty: UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BehaviorDo genes for choosy females and indiscriminate mates determine typical sex roles; or\, do ecological and social constraints determine sex roles? Or is sex role determination due to more complex interactions of sex-associated genes and ecological conditions?  Answering this question has been difficult\, largely because until now there has been no null theory of ecological constraints on sex-associated “sex role” behavior. Here we describe the switchpoint theorem (SPT) that analytically solves the problem of what fraction of potential mates in a population a focal individual of either sex should find acceptable to mate in order to maximize relative lifetime fitness; the SPT is a null model of ecological constraints on reproductive decision-making. The SPT assumes that demographic stochasticity affects time available for mating and that there is variation in fitness that would be conferred by mating with alternative potential mates\, to prove that environmental induction of flexible\, reproductive decision-making of individuals of both sexes is adaptive.   The SPT provides a reasonable scenario for the assumption that all individuals assess likely fitness outcomes before accepting or rejecting a potential mate. Rather than assuming sex differences in genes for choosy females and indiscriminate males\, the SPT is a sex-neutral hypothesis that begins with individual differences in ecological constraints to predict induced and adaptive sex role variation. The predictions of the SPT depend on five parameters:  individual survival and encounter probabilities\, population size\, the distribution of fitness that would be conferred by mating with alternative potential mates\, and individual latencies (time outs after copulation).  The SPT predicts that all else equal\, higher probabilities of individual survival and encounters\, higher population sizes\, and longer latencies decrease the fraction of acceptable mates for focal individuals\, so that focal individuals reject more potential mates.  Similarly\, it predicts that when instantaneous survival and encounter probabilities decline\, adaptively flexible individuals accept more potential mates.   The SPT provides a novel\, quantitative\, unified framework for studying how sexual selection and sexual conflict may operate when individuals manipulate the time available for mating of potential mates\, their mates\, and rivals.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/patricia-gowaty-its-about-time-reproductive-decisions-under-ecological-and-fitness-constraints/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090309T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090309T000000
DTSTAMP:20201013T004831Z
CREATED:20200922T214329Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z
UID:4095-1236556800-1236556800@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Rebecca Bliege Bird - Why Women Hunt: Risk and Contemporary Foraging in a Western Desert Aboriginal Community
DESCRIPTION:Rebecca Bliege Bird: Stanford University Department of AnthropologyAnthropologists commonly invoke an “economy of scale” to explain gender differences in hunter-gatherer subsistence and economic production: wives pursue childcare-compatible tasks and husbands\, of necessity\, provision wives and offspring with hunted meat. This theory explains little about the division of labor among the Australian Martu\, where women hunt extensively\, and gendered asymmetry in foraging decisions is linked to men’s and women’s different social strategies. Women cooperate with other women primarily hunt small\, predictable game (lizards) to provision small kin networks\, to feed children\, and to maintain their cooperative relationships with other women. They trade off large harvests against greater certainty. Men tend to hunt as a political strategy\, using a form of “competitive magnanimity” to rise in the ritual hierarchy and demonstrate their capacity to keep sacred knowledge. Resources that can provision the most others with the most meat best fit this strategy\, resulting in an emphasis on kangaroo. They trade off reliable consumption benefits to the nuclear family for more unpredictable benefits in social standing. Among the Martu\, gender differences in the costs and benefits of engaging in competitive magnanimity\, rather than an economy of scale\, structure men’s more risk-prone and women’s more risk-averse foraging decisions. These results suggest an alternative model of the foraging division of labor that emphasizes the role of ecological variance and social competition and de-emphasizes essentialized sexual and reproductive dichotomies.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/rebecca-bliege-bird-why-women-hunt-risk-and-contemporary-foraging-in-a-western-desert-aboriginal-community/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090330T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20090330T000000
DTSTAMP:20201013T004831Z
CREATED:20200922T214331Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T004831Z
UID:4096-1238371200-1238371200@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Roberto Delgado - Revisiting Island Differences in Orangutan Socioecology: Behavioral Flexibility and Geographic Variation
DESCRIPTION:Roberto Delgado: USC Department of AnthropologyInitial field observations and reports from a few short-term studies pointed to island differences between Bornean and Sumatran orangutans in their general appearance and behavioral ecology\, implying meaningful taxonomic distinctions.  However\, upon further scrutiny at multiple sites and for longer periods of study\, researchers have found population-specific differences across a wide array of features including dietary breadth\, foraging strategies\, life history parameters\, molecular markers\, morphological characters\, reproductive tactics\, sociality\, tool-using abilities\, vocalizations and other traits.  Furthermore\, the nature of this variation is not always in line with expectations based on a simple island (i.e. Borneo vs. Sumatra) dichotomy\, making suspect previous assumptions about historical divergence patterns.  Herewith\, I review the extent of qualitative and quantitative differences documented and explore a theoretical framework for examining geographic variation and behavioral flexibility among orangutan populations.  In particular\, I address hypotheses invoking genetic differences\, anatomical differences\, ecological factors and opportunities for social learning to explain population-level differences.  The available data to date suggest that differences in habitat productivity with its concomitant effects on demographic factors such as local population density can influence patterns of gregariousness as well as both the frequency and intensity of social learning within orangutan communities.  By examining the occurrence and distribution of geographically varying characteristics such as subsistence skills\, comfort skills\, and signals\, we can determine whether or not the observed patterns of variation are justified with a cultural interpretation when other (i.e. ecological\, genetic) explanations are not adequate.  Hence\, identifying the underlying factors leading to geographic variation in behavior has implications for understanding the emergence of local traditions among great apes as well as the origins and evolution of culture within the human lineage.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/roberto-delgado-revisiting-island-differences-in-orangutan-socioecology-behavioral-flexibility-and-geographic-variation/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
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