Hi, Warren, et al., The idea you mention, that homosexuality or asexuality evolved as a means of regulating population seems flawed to me.
For one thing, in human populations, many if not most homosexuals become parents. In the past, in places where homosexuality was forced underground, many of them conducted outwardly heterosexual lives as cover, and this included parenting. Add to that the fact that in many societies women have/had little to say as to whether or how they got pregnant. If a village was raided an a girl was carried off as a captive of war to be a bride, would explaining that she didn't feel that way about men do her much good? Or in a bride-price scenario, would her family turn down an attractive offer, say rights to a flint quarry, or two year's supply of mammoth meat, or whatever their currency was? Nowadays, in places where homosexuality is accepted, many of them adopt children (which doesn't increase population size) or have babies using surrogate mothers or sperm donors, which does. But the biggest problem, as I see it, is how genes for anti-reproductive behaviors would enter a population: If a male baby were born with a mutation that made him homosexual, and if that gene exerted itself such that he fathered no children, his would be the only copy of the gene in the population, and it would exit when he did. I don't see how kin-selection of group-selection mechanisms would get around this problem. Any suggestions out there? Martin M. Meiss 2016-01-22 22:09 GMT-05:00 Warren Aney <a...@coho.net>: > I remember reading an article several years ago that said increasing > population density, human and non-human, results in increasing homosexual > or asexual behavior as an ostensible means for reducing reproduction > rates. I don’t remember if this was just a hypothesis or if it was based > on scientific analysis. > > > > Warren W. Aney > > Senior Wildlife Ecologist > 9403 SW 74th Ave. > Tigard, OR 97223 > (503) 539-1009 > a...@coho.net > > > > > > > > *From:* Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto: > ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Jessa Madosky > *Sent:* 22 January, 2016 08:13 > *To:* ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [ECOLOG-L] Reducing Population Size in Natural Populations > of Organisms - A Question > > > > You might also consider cases where individuals hold territories and > territories are necessary for breeding success. In some cases territories > simply shrink in size with higher pop. numbers, but in many there is a > minimum territory size and thus a limit to the # of potential territories. > Overpopulation can result in territories too small for breeding success > (due to female mate selection for example) or result in some individuals > not being able to maintain a territory and thus not being able to breed. > As other people have mentioned, I wouldn't argue that it is conscious, but > it can lead to a reduction/limit in birth rate. > > Jessa > > > Jessa Madosky, PhD > Assistant Professor > Biology Department > > University of Tampa > > Vice President for Membership - Society for Conservation Biology > > Chapters Committee Chair - Society for Conservation Biology > > President Elect - NA Section of SCB > > Education Committee Chair - NA Section of SCB > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 9:38 AM, Howard S. Neufeld <neufel...@appstate.edu> > wrote: > > Hi all - I am currently working on an abstract about global climate change > for a regional biology meeting in the southeast, and I wanted to say > something about the control of natural populations of organisms, but I am > not sure if the statement I want to make is true, so I’m asking for some > advice and counsel on this. > > > > Here’s the question: *Has any population of organisms (humans excluded) > regulated and reduced their population size by lowering their birth rate > instead of increasing their death rate*? And have any slowed their rate > of increase by raising the age at first birth? Most of the examples I know > of natural population control do so by increasing the death rate. > > > > Some further comments: If resources get scarce as populations increase in > density then behavioral changes could lead to reductions in the birth rate, > but under resource scarcity I would assume that the death rate would go up > also. I know about density-dependent and density-independent controls on > population growth, but here, I’m looking for explicit examples where > populations decrease birth rate without increasing the death rate. > > > > You may wonder why I’m asking this. It's because I’m wondering if humans > can, in the long-term, reduce their population by lowering the birth rate > without increasing the death rate. Yes, some countries are already on that > path (Japan, for example), but economists and social and political > scientists seem to have a problem with such demographic changes, > particularly in a free-market situation where an aging population, even if > sustainable, is viewed as less competitive and therefore at risk of losing > out (whatever that means) to younger, more dynamic populations. It > suggests to me that ecology and society are fundamentally at odds here, and > that future societies may require paradigm shifts in the way they operate > if humans are to actually create a sustainable society. But that’s another > story. > > > > For now, I’d be really interested to hear explicit examples if anyone has > any. > > > > Thanks. > > Howie Neufeld > > -- > > Dr. Howard S. Neufeld, Professor > > Director, Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center > (SAEREC) > > Chair, Appalachian Interdisciplinary Atmospheric Research Group (AppalAIR) > > > > Mailing Address: > > Department of Biology > > 572 Rivers St. > > Appalachian State University > > Boone, NC 28608 > > Tel: 828-262-2683; Fax 828-262-2127 > > > > Websites: > > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/faculty-staff/104 > > Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html > > SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu > > AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu > > Fall Colors: > > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors > > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy > > >
