sex ratio at birth and mortality rates are negatively related in humans出生性别比和人类的死亡率呈负相关关系.pdfVIP

Sex Ratio at Birth and Mortality Rates Are Negatively Related in Humans Madhukar Shivajirao Dama* Rural Veterinary Dispensary, Rajola, Bidar, India Abstract Evolutionary theory posits that resource availability and parental investment ability could signal offspring sex selection, in order to maximize reproductive returns. Non-human studies have provided evidence for this phenomenon, and maternal condition around the time of conception has been identified as most important factor that influence offspring sex selection. However, studies on humans have reported inconsistent results, mostly due to use of disparate measures as indicators of maternal condition. In the present study, the cross-cultural differences in human natal sex ratio were analyzed with respect to indirect measures of condition namely, life expectancy and mortality rate. Multiple regression modeling suggested that mortality rates have distinct predictive power independent of cross-cultural differences in fertility, wealth and latitude that were earlier shown to predict sex ratio at birth. These findings suggest that sex ratio variation in humans may relate to differences in parental and environmental conditions. Citation: Dama MS (2011) Sex Ratio at Birth and Mortality Rates Are Negatively Related in Humans. PLoS ONE 6(8): e23792. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023792 Editor: Rebecca Sear, Durham University, United Kingdom Received December 22, 2010; Accepted July 26, 2011; Published August 24, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Madhukar Shivajirao Dama. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: The author has no support or funding to report. Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist. * E-