期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
卷 278, 期 1704, 页码 417-423出版社
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1377
关键词
brothers; sisters; menarche; onset of sexual activity; costs of brothers; helper-at-the-nest
资金
- School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia
The higher costs of sons compared with daughters extends to a negative effect of brothers on the lifetime reproductive success of their siblings in subsistence and preindustrial societies. In societies with fewer resource constraints, one might expect that these effects would be limited or non-existent. This study investigates the costs of brothers and sisters in a contemporary western society of adult Australians. Girls with elder brothers had a delayed age at menarche. Younger brothers were associated with delayed onset of sexual activity in sisters, but not in brothers. Neither younger nor elder brothers influenced fitness parameters (number of pregnancies, number of children, age at first pregnancy or age at first birth) in siblings of either sex. This study provides evidence that brothers negatively affect their sisters' onset of reproductive maturity and sexual activity; however, this delay is not associated with a fitness cost in contemporary Australia. We suggest this is due to the long period of independence prior to child bearing.
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