Grandmother effects over the Finnish demographic transition

Abstract

Demographic transitions are defining events for human societies, marking shifts from natural mortality and fertility rates to the low rates seen in industrialised populations. These transitions can affect trait evolution through altering the direction and strength of selection when variance in fertility and mortality decline. One key feature of human evolution is the evolution of extended post-reproductive life through indirect fitness benefits from grandmothering. Although studies in pre- and post-transition societies have documented beneficial grandmother presence, it remains unknown whether these associations changed before, during, or after the transition. Here, we use genealogical data from eighteenth- to twientieth-century Finland to show grandmother-associated changes of two measures of evolutionary fitness (grandchild survival and birth rate) over the transition. We find that grandmothers had greater opportunity to help as the transition progressed, but their effect on grandchild survival declined alongside general mortality rates, implying that selection on lifespan from grandmothering declined too. Whilst grandmother presence was still associated with reduced birth intervals and hence more grandchildren born post-transition, the nature of this relationship changed greatly. This suggests that although potential for intergenerational interactions increased over the demographic transition, the (hypothesised) evolutionary importance of these interactions declined, which reduced selection for extended post-reproductive lifespan.