2 ms·
I'm surprised the article doesn't talk more about the population dynamics of any animal with a fixed amount of space: it either consumes everything it needs to
by __MatrixMan__ 5y ago
I'm surprised the article doesn't talk more about the population dynamics of any animal with a fixed amount of space: it either consumes everything it needs to survive and goes extinct, or it approaches an equilibrium population.
I have to imagine that pre-agrarian humans occasionally made the wrong choice there and the whole tribe starved, so genes for population regulation were likely selected for. Less sex as a response to less space (at your parents house or in the tiny apartment that you can barely afford) seems like the straightforward and favorable way for those genes to express.
- laszlojamf 5y agoThis isn't how any other animal behave though. Wolves don't breed less when there is a scarcity of food, they just starve more. Making this a genetic thing is a bit of a stretch.
- __MatrixMan__ 5y agoIt's been fairly well studied in voles. A quick search turns up a paper titled: > A mechanism for population self-regulation: Social density suppresses GnRH expression and reduces reproductivity in voles I wouldn't expect an absence of food to do it, but instead a surplus of neighbors. By the time overpopulation starts affecting the food source it's a little late to do anything about it.