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Primate Life Histories and Socioecology

We know a great deal about roles the environment plays in shaping survival, reproductive success, and even social systems among primates. But how do primate life histories affect social systems and vice versa? Do baboons’ patterns of growth, for example, help to structure their societies? Does fission-fusion sociality interact with predator pressure to influence the timing of maturation in chimpanzees?

Exploring these issues and many others, the contributors to Primate Life Histories and Socioecology provide the first systematic attempt to understand relationships among primate life histories, ecology, and social behavior conjointly. Topics covered include how primate life histories interact with rates of evolution, predator pressure, and diverse social structures; how the slow maturation of primates affects the behavior of both young and adult caregivers; and reciprocal relationships between large brains and increased social and behavioral complexity. The first collection of its kind, this book will interest a wide range of researchers, from anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to psychologists and ecologists.

Contributors:
Paul-Michael Agapow, Susan C. Alberts, Jeanne Altmann, Robert A. Barton, Nicholas G. Blurton Jones, Robert O. Deaner, Robin I. M. Dunbar, Jörg U. Ganzhorn, Laurie R. Godfrey, Kristen Hawkes, Nick J. B. Isaac, Charles H. Janson, Kate E. Jones, William L. Jungers, Peter M. Kappeler, Susanne Klaus, Phyllis C. Lee, Steven R. Leigh, Robert D. Martin, James F. O’Connell, Sylvia Ortmann, Michael E. Pereira, Andy Purvis, Caroline Ross, Karen E. Samonds, Jutta Schmid, Stephen C. Stearns, Michael R. Sutherland, Carel P. van Schaik, and Andrea J. Webster.

416 pages | 66 line drawings, 41 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2003

Biological Sciences: Behavioral Biology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology

Reviews

"For the advanced reader, this volume is a rich compendium of data, methods, and ideas. The reader need not fear that this volume is just a collection of the same old correlations among the usual life history parameters."

David S. Sprague | Primates

“{The contributors] provide the first systematic attempt to understand how primate life histories interact with diverse social structures; how the slow maturation of primates affects the behavior of both the young and their adult caregivers; and the reciprocal relationships between large brains and increased social and behavioral complexity. . . . The book will interest a wide range of researchers, from anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to psychologists and ecologists.”

Ethology, Ecology & Evolution

Primate Life Histories and Socioecology provides the first systematic attempt to understand how primate life histories influence behavior and vice versa. Authors Kappeler and Pereira covered topics including how primate life histories interact with diverse social structures; how the slow maturation of primates affects the behavior of both the young and their adult caregivers; and the reciprocal relationships between large brains and increased social and behavioral complexity. This book will interest a wide range of researchers, from anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to psychologists and ecologists.”

Biology Digest

“The contributors present a broad synthesis of current research, emphasizing a variety of approaches and building a solid foundation for future investigations. This is a rich volume that is relevant not just to primatology but also to behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology."

Rebecca Chancellor | Current Anthropology

“”[The contributors] provide the first systematic attempt to understand relationship among primate life histories, ecology, and social behaviour conjointly. . . . This book will interest a wide range of researchers, from anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to psychologists and ecologists.”

Human Evolution

“Most chapters are quite well done and thorough and a great deal of useful information is amassed in this volume. Anyone interested in primate life histories should own a copy of this book.”

D.B. Meikle | ETH

Table of Contents

Foreword
Robert D. Martin

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Primate Life Histories and Socioecology
Peter M. Kappeler, Michael E. Pereira, and Carel P. van Schaik

Part One - Life History and Socioecology

2. Primate Life Histories and Phylogeny
Andy Purvis, Andrea J. Webster, Paul-Michael Agapow, Kate E. Jones, and Nick J. B. Isaac

3. Socioecological Correlates of Phenotypic Plasticity of Primate Life Histories
Phyllis C. Lee and Peter M. Kappeler

4. Matrix Models for Primate Life History Analysis
Susan C. Alberts and Jeanne Altmann

5. Puzzles, Predation, and Primates: Using Life History to Understand Selection Pressures
Charles H. Janson

6. Adaptations to Seasonality: Some Primate and Nonprimate Examples
Jörg U. Ganzhorn, Susanne Klaus, Sylvia Ortmann, and Jutta Schmid

Part Two - Development

7. Modes of Primate Development
Michael E. Pereira and Steven R. Leigh

8. Dental Development and Primate Life Histories
Laurie R. Godfrey, Karen E. Samonds, William L. Jungers, and Michael R. Sutherland

9. Human Life Histories: Primate Trade-offs, Grandmothering Socioecology, and the Fossil Record
Kristen Hawkes, J. F. O’Connell, and Nicholas G. Blurton Jones

Part Three - Evolution of Primate Brains

10. Primate Brains and Life Histories: Renewing the Connection
Robert O. Deaner, Robert A. Barton, and Carel P. van Schaik

11. Life History, Infant Care Strategies, and Brain Size in Primates
Caroline Ross

12 Why Are Apes So Smart?
Robin I. M. Dunbar

Part Four - Where Do We Go From Here?

13. Primate Life Histories and Future Research
Stephen C. Stearns, Michael E. Pereira, and Peter M. Kappeler

Appendix: A Primate Life History Database
Contributors
References
Index

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