Understanding the occurrence of menopause and post-reproductive lifespans

Bles, Titus J. van der (2024) Understanding the occurrence of menopause and post-reproductive lifespans. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

The cause for several independent evolution events of menopause and extended PRLS in humans and certain species of apes and toothed whales is not yet confirmed. Several hypotheses exist, some of which have been tested more thoroughly than others. This study combines important pieces of existing evidence in favor of and against these hypotheses and compares them to try and find an answer to the research question: “Which theories offer the most probable explanation for the occurrence of menopause and extended post-reproductive lifespans?”, investigating empirical evidence and theoretical models. None of the hypothesis has been rejected in this study mainly due to a limited number of studies, however, evidence shows that the stopping-early and grandmother hypotheses, as well as the embodied capital model, seem unlikely to answer the research question for apes. In humans, the most probable hypotheses seem to be the three live-long hypotheses. Finally, in toothed whales, foundations for the daughter-in-law, anti-cancer and self-domestication hypotheses are present making these hypotheses the most likely. The cause for the evolution of menopause and extended PRLS could be different for each species, while it is also likely that multiple hypotheses are partially true for certain species due to interactions between traits, contributing to the complexity of the problem.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Dugdale, H.L.
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2024 07:59
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2024 07:59
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/34337

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