Biosciences
Centre for Ecology and Conservation
Professor Michael Cant
Professor of Social Evolution
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Key publications
Cant, M.A. (2011). The role of threats in animal cooperation. Proc Biol Sci, 278(1703), 170-178.Abstract:
In human societies, social behaviour is strongly influenced by threats of punishment, even though the threats themselves rarely need to be exercised. Recent experimental evidence suggests that similar hidden threats can promote cooperation and limit within-group selfishness in some animal systems. In other animals, however, threats appear to be ineffective. Here I review theoretical and empirical studies that help to understand the evolutionary causes of these contrasting patterns, and identify three factors-impact, accuracy and perception-that together determine the effectiveness of threats to induce cooperation. Abstract. Author URL
Abstract:
The role of threats in animal cooperation.
In human societies, social behaviour is strongly influenced by threats of punishment, even though the threats themselves rarely need to be exercised. Recent experimental evidence suggests that similar hidden threats can promote cooperation and limit within-group selfishness in some animal systems. In other animals, however, threats appear to be ineffective. Here I review theoretical and empirical studies that help to understand the evolutionary causes of these contrasting patterns, and identify three factors-impact, accuracy and perception-that together determine the effectiveness of threats to induce cooperation.Müller, C.A., Cant, M.A. (2010). Imitation and traditions in wild banded mongooses. Current Biology, 20(13), 1171-1175.
Cant, M.A., Hodge, S.J., Bell, M.B., Gilchrist, J.S., Nichols, H.J. (2010). Reproductive control via eviction (but not the threat of eviction) in banded mongooses. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1691), 2219-2226.
Johnstone, R.A., Cant, M.A. (2010). The evolution of menopause in cetaceans and humans: the role of demography. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1701), 3765-3771.
Cant, M.A., Johnstone, R.A. (2009). How threats influence the evolutionary resolution of within-group conflict. American Naturalist, 173(6), 759-771.
Cant, M.A., Johnstone, R.A. (2008). Reproductive conflict and the separation of reproductive generations in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 105(14), 5332-5336.Abstract:
An enduring puzzle of human life history is why women cease reproduction midway through life. Selection can favor postreproductive survival because older females can help their offspring to reproduce. But the kin-selected fitness gains of helping appear insufficient to outweigh the potential benefits of continued reproduction. Why then do women cease reproduction in the first place? Here, we suggest that early reproductive cessation in humans is the outcome of reproductive competition between generations, and we present a simple candidate model of how this competition will be resolved. We show that among primates exhibiting a postreproductive life span, humans exhibit an extraordinarily low degree of reproductive overlap between generations. The rapid senescence of the human female reproductive system coincides with the age at which, in natural fertility populations, women are expected to encounter reproductive competition from breeding females of the next generation. Several lines of evidence suggest that in ancestral hominids, this younger generation typically comprised immigrant females. In these circumstances, relatedness asymmetries within families are predicted to give younger females a decisive advantage in reproductive conflict with older females. A model incorporating both the costs of reproductive competition and the benefits of grandmothering can account for the timing of reproductive cessation in humans and so offers an improved understanding of the evolution of menopause. Abstract. Author URL
