Integrating evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems research to address the sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene

The rapid, human-induced changes in the Earth system during the Anthropocene present humanity with critical sustainability challenges. Social-ecological systems (SES) research provides multiple approaches for understanding the complex interactions between humans, social systems, and environments and how we might direct them towards healthier and more resilient futures. However, general theories of SES change have yet to be fully developed. Formal evolutionary theory has been applied as a dynamic theory of change of complex phenomena in biology and the social sciences, but rarely in SES research. In this paper, we explore the connections between both fields, hoping to foster collaboration. After sketching out the distinct intellectual traditions of SES research and evolutionary theory, we map some of their terminological and theoretical connections. We then provide examples of how evolutionary theory might be incorporated into SES research through the use of systems mapping to identify evolutionary processes in SES, the application of concepts from evolutionary developmental biology to understand the connections between systems changes and evolutionary changes, and how evolutionary thinking may help design interventions for beneficial change. Integrating evolutionary theory and SES research can lead to a better understanding of SES changes and positive interventions for a more sustainable Anthropocene. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'

From social learning to culture : mathematical and computational models of cultural evolution

Humans are unique in the extent and complexity of their cultures. As a species, we generate extensive knowledge and innumerable norms, attitudes, traditions, skills, beliefs and technologies that we share with those around us through teaching, imitation and language. These cultural practices have their roots in our uniquely potent ability for social learning. This thesis sets out to elucidate the process of cultural evolution using a series of mathematical and computational models. These models first investigate the evolution of the capacity for social learning, the rare ability to teach, and the evolution of the smart and strategic use of social learning, in the animal lineage. They go on to investigate the implications of these strategies and mechanisms for culture and find that the form human culture takes is dependant on the amount and nature of social learning as well as on the underlying learning strategies deployed. The thesis also investigates the effect that culture has had on the human evolutionary niche. Cultural practices fundamentally change the selection pressures to which humans are subject and these in turn change both our cultures and our genes through gene-culture coevolution. Finally, a demographic cultural niche construction model is presented, which investigates the application of cultural evolution modelling, cultural niche construction theory and demographic models to the growing problem of sex-ratio imbalance in modern China and considers the implications for policy-making. The analyses presented in this thesis support the argument that the uniquely potent human ability to transmit acquired information through teaching, imitation and other forms of social learning, and through this to shape our cultural and ecological environments, has played and continues to play a central role in human evolution

Models of cultural niche construction with selection and assortative mating

This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant GM28016 and a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council studentship to LF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Niche construction is a process through which organisms modify their environment and, as a result, alter the selection pressures on themselves and other species. In cultural niche construction, one or more cultural traits can influence the evolution of other cultural or biological traits by affecting the social environment in which the latter traits may evolve. Cultural niche construction may include either gene-culture or culture-culture interactions. Here we develop a model of this process and suggest some applications of this model. We examine the interactions between cultural transmission, selection, and assorting, paying particular attention to the complexities that arise when selection and assorting are both present, in which case stable polymorphisms of all cultural phenotypes are possible. We compare our model to a recent model for the joint evolution of religion and fertility and discuss other potential applications of cultural niche construction theory, including the evolution and maintenance of large-scale human conflict and the relationship between sex ratio bias and marriage customs. The evolutionary framework we introduce begins to address complexities that arise in the quantitative analysis of multiple interacting cultural traits.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Effective population size for culturally evolving traits.

Population size has long been considered an important driver of cultural diversity and complexity. Results from population genetics, however, demonstrate that in populations with complex demographic structure or mode of inheritance, it is not the census population size, N, but the effective size of a population, Ne, that determines important evolutionary parameters. Here, we examine the concept of effective population size for traits that evolve culturally, through processes of innovation and social learning. We use mathematical and computational modeling approaches to investigate how cultural Ne and levels of diversity depend on (1) the way traits are learned, (2) population connectedness, and (3) social network structure. We show that one-to-many and frequency-dependent transmission can temporally or permanently lower effective population size compared to census numbers. We caution that migration and cultural exchange can have counter-intuitive effects on Ne. Network density in random networks leaves Ne unchanged, scale-free networks tend to decrease and small-world networks tend to increase Ne compared to census numbers. For one-to-many transmission and different network structures, larger effective sizes are closely associated with higher cultural diversity. For connectedness, however, even small amounts of migration and cultural exchange result in high diversity independently of Ne. Extending previous work, our results highlight the importance of carefully defining effective population size for cultural systems and show that inferring Ne requires detailed knowledge about underlying cultural and demographic processes

Figure S3 from The niche construction of cultural complexity: interactions between innovations, population size and the environment

The relationship between environmental stability, <i>c</i> (where the environment changes every <i>c</i> generations) and the average number of cultural traits in a population (averaged over the final 500 generations of a 1000 generation run for 5 independent runs). Red lines indicate low environmental harshness (<i>h</i>=1), and blue lines indicate high environmental harshness (<i>h</i>=1.1). Dash-dot lines: <i>N</i>=5, solid lines: <i>N</i>=100, dashed lines: <i>N</i>=250, where <i>N</i> is population size. β=0.99. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean. Compare to Figure 2 in the text where β=0.9