Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands
According to Hamilton's rule, matrilineal-biased investment restrains men in matrilineal societies from maximising their inclusive fitness (the ‘matrilineal puzzle'). A recent hypothesis argues that when women breed communally and share household resources, a man should help his sisters�...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X22000470/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156388348428288 |
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| author | Qiao-Qiao He Jun-Wen Rui Li Zhang Yi Tao Jia-Jia Wu Ruth Mace Ting Ji |
| author_facet | Qiao-Qiao He Jun-Wen Rui Li Zhang Yi Tao Jia-Jia Wu Ruth Mace Ting Ji |
| author_sort | Qiao-Qiao He |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | According to Hamilton's rule, matrilineal-biased investment restrains men in matrilineal societies from maximising their inclusive fitness (the ‘matrilineal puzzle'). A recent hypothesis argues that when women breed communally and share household resources, a man should help his sisters' household, rather than his wife's household, as investment to the later but not the former would be diluted by other unrelated members (Wu et al., 2013). According to this hypothesis, a man is less likely to help on his wife's farm when there are more women reproducing in the wife's household, because on average he would be less related to his wife's household. We used a farm-work observational dataset, that we collected in the matrilineal Mosuo in southwest China, to test this hypothesis. As predicted, high levels of communal breeding by women in his wife's households do predict less effort spent by men on their wife's farm, and communal breeding in men's natal households do not affect whether men help on their natal farms. Thus, communal breeding by women dilutes the inclusive fitness benefits men receive from investment to their wife and children, and may drive the evolution of matrilineal-biased investment by men. These results can help solve the ‘matrilineal puzzle'. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a61dea6e4d4d4a1aa58e1cc362f890af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:44Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-a61dea6e4d4d4a1aa58e1cc362f890af2023-03-09T12:32:20ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2022-01-01410.1017/ehs.2022.47Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbandsQiao-Qiao He0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9381-7444Jun-Wen Rui1Li Zhang2Yi Tao3Jia-Jia Wu4Ruth Mace5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6137-7739Ting Ji6College of Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110034, ChinaCollege of Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110034, ChinaCollege of Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110034, ChinaKey Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaLife Science, Lanzhou University, Tianshui Rd, Chengguan Qu, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730000, ChinaDepartment of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1H 0BW, UKKey Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaAccording to Hamilton's rule, matrilineal-biased investment restrains men in matrilineal societies from maximising their inclusive fitness (the ‘matrilineal puzzle'). A recent hypothesis argues that when women breed communally and share household resources, a man should help his sisters' household, rather than his wife's household, as investment to the later but not the former would be diluted by other unrelated members (Wu et al., 2013). According to this hypothesis, a man is less likely to help on his wife's farm when there are more women reproducing in the wife's household, because on average he would be less related to his wife's household. We used a farm-work observational dataset, that we collected in the matrilineal Mosuo in southwest China, to test this hypothesis. As predicted, high levels of communal breeding by women in his wife's households do predict less effort spent by men on their wife's farm, and communal breeding in men's natal households do not affect whether men help on their natal farms. Thus, communal breeding by women dilutes the inclusive fitness benefits men receive from investment to their wife and children, and may drive the evolution of matrilineal-biased investment by men. These results can help solve the ‘matrilineal puzzle'.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X22000470/type/journal_articleCommunal breedingmatrilineal puzzlekin selectionMosuomatrilineal society |
| spellingShingle | Qiao-Qiao He Jun-Wen Rui Li Zhang Yi Tao Jia-Jia Wu Ruth Mace Ting Ji Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands Evolutionary Human Sciences Communal breeding matrilineal puzzle kin selection Mosuo matrilineal society |
| title | Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| title_full | Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| title_fullStr | Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| title_short | Communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| title_sort | communal breeding by women is associated with lower investment from husbands |
| topic | Communal breeding matrilineal puzzle kin selection Mosuo matrilineal society |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X22000470/type/journal_article |
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