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England first, America second: The ecological predictors of life history and innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2019

Severi Luoto Open the ORCID record for Severi Luoto [Opens in a new window] ,
Markus J. Rantala  and
Indrikis Krams Open the ORCID record for Indrikis Krams [Opens in a new window]
Severi Luoto
Affiliation:
English, Drama and Writing Studies, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New [email protected]://www.researchgate.net/profile/Severi_Luoto School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
Markus J. Rantala
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turku, [email protected]://www.researchgate.net/profile/Markus_Rantala
Indrikis Krams
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University of Latvia, 1004 Rīga, Latvia Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.  [email protected]://www.researchgate.net/profile/Indrikis_Krams
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Abstract

We present data from 122 nations showing that Baumard's argument on the ecological predictors of life history strategies and innovation is incomplete. Our analyses indicate that wealth, parasite stress, and cold climate impose orthogonal effects on life histories, innovation, and industrialization. Baumard also overlooks the historical exploitation of other nations which significantly enlarged the “pooled energy budget” available to England.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e205
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

Owing to project management and printer's errors, there were a number of mistakes in the original online version of this commentary. The funding information was incorrect; there were errors in Table 2 of the commentary; and two references were omitted, resulting in further errors to in-text reference citations. These errors have been corrected here and an erratum has been published.

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