Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Reproduction and environment
- 2 Genetic damage and male reproduction
- 3 The microenvironment in health and cancer of the mammary gland
- 4 The energetic cost of physical activity and the regulation of reproduction
- 5 Energetic cost of gestation and lactation in humans
- 6 Adaptive maternal, placental and fetal responses to nutritional extremes in the pregnant adolescent: lessons from sheep
- 7 Growth and sexual maturation in human and non-human primates: a brief review
- 8 The evolution of post-reproductive life: adaptationist scenarios
- 9 Analysing the characteristics of the menstrual cycle in field situations in humans: some methodological aspects
- 10 An insidious burden of disease: the pathological role of sexually transmitted diseases in fertility
- 11 Family planning and unsafe abortion
- 12 Global sexual and reproductive health: responding to the needs of adolescents
- 13 Understanding reproductive decisions
- Index
- References
7 - Growth and sexual maturation in human and non-human primates: a brief review
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Reproduction and environment
- 2 Genetic damage and male reproduction
- 3 The microenvironment in health and cancer of the mammary gland
- 4 The energetic cost of physical activity and the regulation of reproduction
- 5 Energetic cost of gestation and lactation in humans
- 6 Adaptive maternal, placental and fetal responses to nutritional extremes in the pregnant adolescent: lessons from sheep
- 7 Growth and sexual maturation in human and non-human primates: a brief review
- 8 The evolution of post-reproductive life: adaptationist scenarios
- 9 Analysing the characteristics of the menstrual cycle in field situations in humans: some methodological aspects
- 10 An insidious burden of disease: the pathological role of sexually transmitted diseases in fertility
- 11 Family planning and unsafe abortion
- 12 Global sexual and reproductive health: responding to the needs of adolescents
- 13 Understanding reproductive decisions
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
“…adult size can be reached through many pathways involving timing differences and rate differences.”
(Leigh, 2001, p. 236)If there are indeed many pathways to the adult endpoint during growth, what becomes of interest is the nature of those different pathways and, more significantly, the consequences of differences in pathways for early survival, for the timing of the onset of reproductive activity, and for subsequent lifespan. This chapter explores some of the strategies for growth observed in primates, and outlines potential consequences of these strategies. I do this in the context of an abundance of detailed literature on growth rates, growth constraints and models of rates of growth for humans (see for example Bogin, 1999) and non-human primates (e.g. Leigh, 1996). Models of growth can provide explanations for primate life history variation (Leigh, 1995; Dirks & Bowman, 2007) and, in addition, potentially elucidate the variation that exists at the level of the individual and population between rapid and late maturation (e.g. Wilson et al., 1983; Bercovitch & Berard, 1993; Setchell et al., 2001; Altmann & Alberts, 2005).
Physical maturation is obviously a consequence of growth, but the timing of physiological or hormonal reproductive onset, rather than simply attained size, determines much of the subsequent reproductive success of the individual. Early reproduction, combined with high survival, provides significant advantages in terms of lifetime reproductive success.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Reproduction and AdaptationTopics in Human Reproductive Ecology, pp. 128 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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