Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture
Title | Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture PDF eBook |
Author | Douglas J. Kennett |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Pages | 409 |
Release | 2006-01-02 |
Genre | Nature |
ISBN | 0520932455 |
This innovative volume is the first collective effort by archaeologists and ethnographers to use concepts and models from human behavioral ecology to explore one of the most consequential transitions in human history: the origins of agriculture. Carefully balancing theory and detailed empirical study, and drawing from a series of ethnographic and archaeological case studies from eleven locations—including North and South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, the Near East, Africa, and the Pacific—the contributors to this volume examine the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and herding using a broad set of analytical models and concepts. These include diet breadth, central place foraging, ideal free distribution, discounting, risk sensitivity, population ecology, and costly signaling. An introductory chapter both charts the basics of the theory and notes areas of rapid advance in our understanding of how human subsistence systems evolve. Two concluding chapters by senior archaeologists reflect on the potential for human behavioral ecology to explain domestication and the transition from foraging to farming.
Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture
Title | Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture PDF eBook |
Author | Douglas J. Kennett |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Pages | 408 |
Release | 2006-01-02 |
Genre | Nature |
ISBN | 0520246470 |
"For the newcomer to the literature and logic of human behavioral ecology, this book is a flat-out bonanza—entirely accessible, self-critical, largely free of polemic, and, above all, stimulating beyond measure. It's an extraordinary contribution. Our understanding of the foraging-farming dynamic may just have changed forever."—David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History
The Ecological Transition
Title | The Ecological Transition PDF eBook |
Author | John W. Bennett |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 389 |
Release | 2017-09-29 |
Genre | Nature |
ISBN | 1351304712 |
Written during the height of the ecology movement, The Ecological Transition is a stunning interdisciplinary work. It combines anthropology, ecology, and sociology to formulate an understanding of cultural-environmental relationships. While anthropologists have been studying relationships between humans and the physical environment for a very long time, only in the last thirty years have questions inherent in these relationships broadened beyond description and classification. For example, the concept of environment has been extended beyond the physical into the social. Although anthropologists have adopted many of the concepts that Bennett develops in the book, he also feels that the central issues have never been addressed, either by anthropologists or by people in related disciplines. The most important of these, in Bennett's opinion, is the failure to incorporate a respect for the environmental in contemporary culture, which would allow making exceptions in certain human practices in order to protect the environment. His point in The Ecological Transition is that a basic cultural change in modern civilization is necessary to achieve this end. Both a theoretical and a practical work, The Ecological Transition emphasizes the relationships between human culture, the physical environment, technology, and social policy. The Ecological Transition is a challenging volume that makes us face the consequences of human behavior in the modern world: its effect on pollution, natural resources, agriculture, the economy, and population, to name just a few areas. The book remains a significant contribution to the discourse on social, economic, and environmental problems. While the book was first published in 1976, it still reads as a contemporary tract.
Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments
Title | Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments PDF eBook |
Author | Heather B. Thakar |
Publisher | University Press of Florida |
Pages | 295 |
Release | 2023-02-14 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0813070325 |
Examples of a research approach that sheds light on coastal societies in the past In this volume, contributors apply human behavioral ecology theoretical models to coastal environments around the globe and to the use of coastal resources by past human societies. Evidence demonstrates that coastlines and islands are dynamic environments that were important in early human migrations, and this volume shows how researchers can gain insights about human behavior in these settings through its critical regional reviews and detailed local case studies. The volume begins by introducing the importance of theory in the reconstruction of human behavior and provides examples of traditional foraging models. Contributors then offer perspectives from North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Polynesia. They discuss unique challenges faced by coastal societies, including extreme seasonality, patchy resource distribution, natural hazards, balancing coastal and terrestrial resource needs, aquatic technological innovation, and multiscale environmental change. Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments demonstrates that exploring decision-making and cultural behaviors is key to understanding how humans have lived in and related to these environments. Through its application of human behavioral ecology models, this volume sheds light on the evolving adaptations of societies in a variety of coastal contexts through time and across space. A volume in the series Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology, edited by Victor D. Thompson and Scott M. Fitzpatrick
Human Behavioral Ecology
Title | Human Behavioral Ecology PDF eBook |
Author | Jeremy Koster |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 535 |
Release | 2024-02-29 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1108386326 |
Human behavioral ecology (HBE) applies the principles of evolutionary theory and optimisation to the study of human behavioural and cultural diversity. Among other things, HBE attempts to explain variation in behaviour as adaptive solutions to the competing life-history demands of growth, development, reproduction, parental care, and mate acquisition. This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical orientation and specific findings of HBE. It consolidates the insights of evolution and human behaviour into a single volume that reflects the current state and future of the field. It brings together leading scholars from across the evolutionary social sciences to provide a comprehensive and thought-provoking review of the state of the topic. Throughout, the authors explain the latest developments in theory and highlight critical debates in the literature, while also engaging readers with ethnographic insights and field-based studies that remain at the core of human behavioral ecology.
Transition to Agro-Ecology
Title | Transition to Agro-Ecology PDF eBook |
Author | Jelleke de Nooy van Tol |
Publisher | AuthorHouse |
Pages | 297 |
Release | 2016-09-29 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1524633836 |
Our global agricultural and food system is broken and needs to transition to one that is more sustainable and beneficial to the worlds population. This seems hard in the face of the linked challenges of climate change, natural resource depletion, and worldwide economic and social upheaval. At the same time, farmer-led social movements are growing, and there is increasing recognition that agroecology and food sovereignty are key solutions for both nutritious food security and climate change adaptation. This book takes you along in the transition to agroecology, which is already happening, worldwide! The author shows us the as of yet dispersed but growing movement of many smallholder farmers, projects, programs, research, and policy agendas that are making the change. Since the daily news prevents us from noticing, Jelleke shows us the most beautiful and intriguing examples of ground-breaking people and projects. She gives you the keys for transition. She makes us look back from 2030. What have we done by thenyou and I, your friends and colleagues, investors and politiciansto have arrived in a changed food-secure world where agroecology is the new normal? This book is a must-read for researchers, politicians, students, and consumers alike.
Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology and Psychopathy
Title | Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology and Psychopathy PDF eBook |
Author | Janko Međedović |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Pages | 182 |
Release | 2023-07-19 |
Genre | Psychology |
ISBN | 3031328868 |
This book examines the study of psychopathy using behavioral ecological framework. It consists of two parts. The first describes the science of human behavioral ecology, including: • Basic concepts of evolutionary biology • Evolutionary behavioral sciences • Evolutionary ecology of family • Evolutionary tradeoffs • Life history theory • Behavioral ecology of personality • Psychopathy and its current evolution. The second part of the book describes empirical research on psychopathy in evolutionary ecological context, aiming to explore fertility-longevity tradeoffs in psychopathy, interacting phenotypes in psychopathy, and parental effects associated with psychopathy. This part contains the discussion of the study’s findings which is based on several theoretical concepts described in part one. This volume is ideal for psychopathy researchers hoping to bridge the natural and social sciences in a new and innovative way.