South American indians: A case study in evolution

TREE vol. 4, no. 2, February

1989

servation of those species that are threatened with extinction as a result of prior introductions. Conservation of the African cichlids should be given high priority. The preservation of these species is very important for maintaining the integrity of their ecosystems, sustaining a lucrative food source, and preserving a source of scientific knowledge27. Acknowledgement.5 I thank A.P. Dobson, A. Merenlender, T. Anderson and referees for their many helpful comments during the preparation of this manuscript.

References 1 Greenwood, P.H. (1984) in Evolution of Fish Species Necks (Echelle, A.A. and Kornfield, I.;eds), pp. 141-154, University of Maine at Orono Press 2 McKaye. K.A. and Gray, W.N. (1984) in Evolution of Fish Species Flocks (Echelle, A.A. and Kornfield, I., eds), pp. 169-184, University of Maine at Orono Press 3 Hughes, N.F. (1986) J. Fish. Biol. 29, 541-548 4 Ribbink, A.J. (1987) Environ. Biol. Fish. 19,3-26 5 Barlow, C.G. and Lisle, A. (1987) Biol. Conserv. 39,269-289

6 Barel, C.D.N., Dorit, R., Greenwood, P.H., Fryer, G., Hughes, N., Jackson, P.B.N., Kawanabe, H., Lowe-McConnell, R.H., Nagoshi, M., Ribbink,A.J., Trewavas, E., Witte, F. and Yamaoka, K. (1985) Nature315, I%20 7 Bare1,C.D.N. and Witte, F. (1986)Ann. MU. R. Afr. Cent., SC. Zoo/. 251,171-173 8 Diamond, J. and Case.T.J. 11986) in Community Ecology (Diamond, J. and Case, T.J., eds), pp. 65-79, Harper & Row 9 Crowder, L.B., Magnuson, J.J. and Brandt, S.B. (1981) Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38.662-668 10 Stewart, D.J., Kitchell, J.F. and Crowder, L.B. (1981) Trans. Am. Fish. Sot. 110,751-763 11 Fausch, K.D. and White, R.J. (1981) Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38, 1220-l 227 12 McComas, S.R. and Drenner, R.W. (1982) Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 39, 815-821 13 Gilpin, M.E. and Soul& M.E. (1986) in Conservation Biology: the Science of ScarcityandDiversity (Soul& M.E., ed.), pp. 19-34. Sinauer Associates 14 Zaret, T.M. and Paine, R.T. (1973) Science 182, #S-455 15 Smith, S.H. (1968) J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 25,667-693 18 Dobson, A.P. and May, R.M. (lSt:6) in Ecoloav of Bioloaical Invasions of North Ame&a and Hawaii (Mooney, l!.A. and Drake, J.A., eds). pp. 58-76, SpringerVerlag

17 Holt, R.D. and Pickering, J. (1985) Am. Nat. 126.196-211 18 Petrushevski, G.K. and Shulman, S.S. (1961) in Parasitologyoffishes (Dogiel, V.A.. Petrushevski, G.K. and Polvanski. Y.I., ids), pp. 299%9, Oliver B&d 19 Turner, J.L. (1982) in Biologicalstudies on the Pelagic Ecosystem of Lake Malawi, Fishery Expansion Project, Malawi, Tech. Report Fl:DP/MLWY75/019, pp. 165-173, FAO 28 Eccles, D.H. (1985) Biol. Conserv. 33, 309-333 21 McKaye, K.R., Makwinja, R.D., Menyani, W.W. and Mhone, 0.K (1985) Biol. Conserv. 33,289-307 22 Dobson,A.P. and May, R.M. (1987)lnt J. Parasitol. 17.363-370 23 Ribbink, A.J: (1986)Ann. Mus. I?. Afr. Cent, SC. Zooi. 251,163-170 24 Kornfield, I.L. (1978) Experientia 34, 335-336 25 Fryer, G. and Iles, T.D. (1972) The Cichlid Fishes of ihe Great Lakes of Africa: Their Biology and Evolution, T.F.H. Publications 28 Kornfield, I. (1984) in Evolutionary Genetics of Fishes (Turner, B.J., ed.) pp. 591-616, Plenum Press 27 Fryer, G. (1972) Biol. Conserv. 4, 256-262 28 Echelle, A.A. and Kornfield, I., eds ( 1984) Evolution of Fish Species Flocks, University of Maine at Orono Press

clearly identified, giving readers an idea of where naw research efforts ought to be focused. Researchers will appreciate the numerous tables, in all chapters, t;lat summarize basic data. To a large extent, these tables alone make tl-e book worthwhile. Readers can quickly determine the range and variation in nearly all welldocumented dimensions of human biology. The primary weakness of the book is a lack of adequate attention - but I would not say inattention - to theoretical issues in general human evolution and to more specific problems in South American human biology. Too often the authors blandly describe the data without attention to considerations such as drift, migration, founder effects and natural selection. The first two chapters deal with background data on archaeology, history, environment and cultural variability. Little comparative work has been done in these areas since the publication of Steward’s Handbook of South American Indians in the late 1940s. Steward’s typological

of the same nature. Perhaps this volume will stimulate anthropologists to return to cultural evolutionary issues. Chapter three, on population structure, deals with the relationship between demography and social organization. The authors find that sedentary groups have higher fertility, a lower opportunity for selection, and identical mortality rates compared to semi-sedentary groups. In addition, good use is made of the demographic processes of village fission-fusion and marriage practices to model genetic variability. Chapter four focuses on human adaptability and covers the significant work accomplished on hypoxia in Andean populations. The authors

HumanAdaptation South American Indians: A CaseStudy in Evolution by Francisco M. Salzano and Sidia M. Callegari-Jacques, Clarendon Press (Research Monographs in Human Population Biology No. 6), 1988. f32.50 (xii + 259 pages ISBN 0198576358 During the last 20 years a tremendous amount of research has been done on the human biology of South American Indians - to which the senior author of this book has contributed significantly - but there has been little attempt at synthesis and evaluation of the state of the art. South American Indians is a comprehensive review of the human biology of the aboriginal inhabitants of that continent, with the final two chapters breaking new ground in the analysis of continent-wide genetic variability using a variety of numerical taxonomic techniques. This volume should

be of interest

to all who

do

human biology research in South America. The strengths of the volume lie in its comprehensiveness, logical and consistent

organization,

and

biblio-

graphic detail. Critical research problems and gaps in the literature are

concerns

hold

anthropologists result, the typological

studies

with

little

interest

these

days.

authors cultural

modern

for

As

a

must link old anthropological

genetic

studies

point

out

that

the

role

of

cultural,

physiological, genetic and developmental factors in high altitude adaptation are still not clearly understood. Disease patterns, covered in chapter five, are an important topic. New World aboriginal populations had been isolated for thousands of years from Old World pathogens, and the high rates of mortality suffered by lightly contacted groups when infected by influenza, measles and other Old World diseases are of 59

TREE vol. 4, no. 2, February

considerable humanitarian and scientific interest. Why do isolated native South Americans suffer such high mortality rates when exposed to these diseases, even though, in most cases, their immune responses appear to be normal? Like other tropical peoples, Amazonian South Americans are heavily parasitized and maintain high antibody levels. The effect of such high parasite loads is unclear, although one study shows that heavy intestinal parasite load does not affect nutritional status. The remainder of the volume is devoted to a multivariate and numerical taxonomic analysis of discontinuous genetic variability (from blood and saliva samples) based on an examination of 259 papers published between 1927 and 1983.

Genetic variation is examined geographically as it varies with latitude, longitude, temperature, rainfall and biome. A number of patterns in distribution are discovered. However, their significance to evolutionary concerns is unclear because we do not know why, for example, the red-cell surface antigen Le (Lewis) significantly with should vary and latitude. The temperature clustering of tribal groups based on degree of genetic similarity is an important step in unraveling patterns of migration, isolation and interbreeding as well as general cultural history. Their detailed analysis reveals that ‘The bulk of the South American tribes cannot be separated [genetically] into a few major categories. Instead, they show gradual,

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stepwise differences.’ The authors conclude by describing, in broad terms, what we know about the genetics and human biology of native South Americans. Significantly, this volume goes a long way towards establishing what we do know and in highlighting fundamental areas in need of investigation. Throughout, their approach is cautious and synthetic. This volume will serve as a major point of reference for both seasoned researchers and graduate students of South American human biology.

Raymond Hames Dept of Anthropology, Universityof Nebraska,Lincoln, NE 6%&53S8, USA.

BehaviouralEcology The Ecology of social Behaviour by C.N. Slobodchikoff, edited Academic Press, 7988. $5!5/f38 hbk (429 pages) ISBN 0 12 646780 4 ‘The goods of the father, of which he is really the master, are the ties which keep his children in dependence . . .’ wrote Rousseau in On the Origin of Inequality, and this is one of several ideas that reverberate as common themes through many of the 16 chapters of The Ecology of Social Behaviour. Philopatry (the practice of offspring remaining on their natal range after sexual maturity), and the importance of inherited resources in shaping social organization, emerge in sections of the book devoted to mammals (e.g. Waser’s case study of banner-tailed kangaroo rats], birds (e.g. the Ligons’ study of green woodhoopoe) and arthropods (particularly in Myles’ daringly entitled chapter: Resource inheritance in social evolution from termites to man). The latter chapter does indeed span such topics as wing polymorphism in insects and the inheritance of n!ores (hereditary land rights) by Kalahari bushmen, both of which, through the modern expression of Rousseau’s perception, are linked in forceful advocacy of the evolutionary importance of resource inheritance (an importance tempered by the costs of dispersal). Following a brief introduction, the book is divided into four major sections; the first is on the theory of ecological interactions, with successive sections devoted to the ecology of social mammals, social birds and social arthropods. The papers are

60

too numerous to mention in turn, but each section comprises a blend of styles (although there is a tendency for many of the chapters to share a slightly forced chattiness, which might betray an editorial request for ‘readability’). Some, such as Barlow’s chapter in the theoretical section on monogamy in relation to resources, or Rodman’s on resources and group sizes of primates, or Heinrich’s chapter on food sharing in the raven, are gentle romps through the generalizations of a topic. Others, such as Marzluff’s and Balda’s chapter on scrub and pinon jays, are more detailed case histories of particular projects. Marzluff and Balda show how the two different species of jay, both heavily dependent on pinon pine seeds, have opted for opposite solutions to the unpredictability of this food supply: the scrub jay has become a territorial, monogamous generalist, switching to other foods when the pine cones fail, whereas the pinon jay has become a flockliving specialist, searching far and wide for pines. Their analysis is given an extra dimension because, despite the importance of fluctuations in food supply, vagaries of the weather actually override all other factors in determining the breeding success of the pinon jays. This situation may arise because the study population was at the extreme of the species‘ range. Although some themes, such as the significance of kin selection, are discussed in almost all chapters, others receive focused treatment, as in Uetz’s interesting account of risksensitive foraging in Metepeira spiders or Berger’s of phylogenetic inertia. Berger, observing Grevy’s

and mountain zebra improbably located in the Canyon Colarado Equid Sanctuary, found that their social organizations remained different despite living under seemingly identical circumstances. With pleasing consistency, Gautier and co-authors draw similar conclusions from their discussion of the social behaviour of cockroaches. For me, the outstanding chapters of this book are the two that focus on life histories, namely Armitage’s account of ground-dwelling squirrels and the Ligons’ of green woodhoopoe. Both are monuments to the virtues of long-term field studies of marked populations. Interestingly, 20 years of marmots and ten of hoopoes lead the respective authors to some similar conclusions. The resources in territories are crucial to the success of their inmates - in the case of the hoopoes the key resource is a nest hole in which they can hide from nocturnal predators (when attacked they opt for the skunk-like strategy of squirting foul odours at their attacker). After ten years it emerges that occupants of territories with good nest holes invariably leave many descendants, while most (but, critically, not all) of those from poor territories leave none. Inheriting a good territory is the key to success, and so it’s back to Rousseau or, as Myles puts it at the human end of his termites-to-man discussion, to dowries, trust funds and wills.

David W. Macdonald Dept of Zoology, Universityof Oxford, South ParksRd. Oxford OX1 3PS,UK.