Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a contemporary human population. Pelletier, F., Pigeon, G., Bergeron, P., Mayer, F., M., Boisvert, M., Réale, D., & Milot, E. Nature Communications, 8(1):15947, 8, 2017.
Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a contemporary human population [pdf]Paper  Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a contemporary human population [link]Website  doi  abstract   bibtex   1 download  
Recent studies of the joint dynamics of ecological and evolutionary processes show that changes in genotype or phenotype distributions can affect population, community and ecosystem processes. Such eco-evolutionary dynamics are likely to occur in modern humans and may influence population dynamics. Here, we study contributions to population growth from detailed genealogical records of a contemporary human population. We show that evolutionary changes in women's age at first reproduction can affect population growth: 15.9% of variation in individual contribution to population growth over 108 years is explained by mean age at first reproduction and at least one-third of this variation (6.1%) is attributed to the genetic basis of this trait, which showed an evolutionary response to selection during the period studied. Our study suggests that eco-evolutionary processes have modulated the growth of contemporary human populations.

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