Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:35:16.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anthropometric measurements and Darwinian fitness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

William H. Mueller ,
Gabriel W. Lasker  and
F. Gaynor Evans
William H. Mueller
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas
Gabriel W. Lasker
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
F. Gaynor Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The relationship between anthropometrics and three measures of Darwinian fitness—number of surviving children, number of living siblings and marital status—was sought in a population practising no contraception. The pattern suggestive of stabilizing selection was evident for one dimension, destabilizing selection for another dimension, and directional selection for yet another. The dimensions studied were those least intercorrelated one with another. Stabilizing selection for human physical characteristics may not be a universal phenomenon.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 309 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © 1981, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, S.M. & Garn, S.M. (1979) Socio-economic interactions with physique and fertility. Hum. Biol. 51, 317.Google Scholar
Clark, P.J. & Spuhler, J.N. (1959) Differential fertility in relation to body dimensions. Hum. Biol. 31, 121.Google ScholarPubMed
Conterio, F. & Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. (1960) Selezoine per caratteri quantitativi nell'uomo. Atti Ass. genet. Ital. 5, 295.Google Scholar
Furusho, T. (1964) Relationship between the stature of parents and the mortality of their children. Jap. J. hum. genet. 9, 18.Google ScholarPubMed
Lasker, G.W. (1952) Environmental factors and selective migration. Hum. Biol. 24, 262.Google ScholarPubMed
Lasker, G.W. & Evans, F.G. (1961) Age, environment and migration: further anthropometric findings on migrant and non-migrant Mexicans. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 19, 203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lasker, G.W. & Thomas, R. (1976) Relationship between reproductive fitness and anthropometric dimensions in a Mexican population. Hum. Biol. 48, 775.Google Scholar
Lasker, G.W. & Thomas, R. (1978) The relationship between size and shape of the human head and reproductive fitness. Stud. phys. Anthrop. (Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Anthropology, Warsaw) 4, 3.Google Scholar
Mather, K. (1953) The genetical structure of populations. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol. 7, 66.Google Scholar
Mitton, J.B. (1975) Fertility differentials in modern societies resulting in normalizing selection for height. Hum. Biol. 47, 189.Google ScholarPubMed
Mueller, W.H. (1979) Fertility and physique in a malnourished population. Hum. Biol. 51, 153.Google Scholar
Nie, N.H., Hull, C.H., Jenkins, J.G., Steinbrenner, K. & Bent, D.H. (1975) SPSS—Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Vetta, A. (1975) Fertility, physique and intensity of selection. Hum. Biol. 47, 283.Google ScholarPubMed