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Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction

The replacement of Neanderthals by Anatomically Modern Humans has typically been attributed to environmental pressure or a superiority of modern humans with respect to competition for resources. Here we present two independent models that suggest that no such heatedly debated factors might be needed...

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Autores principales: Vaesen, Krist, Scherjon, Fulco, Hemerik, Lia, Verpoorte, Alexander
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6880983/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31774843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225117
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author Vaesen, Krist
Scherjon, Fulco
Hemerik, Lia
Verpoorte, Alexander
author_facet Vaesen, Krist
Scherjon, Fulco
Hemerik, Lia
Verpoorte, Alexander
author_sort Vaesen, Krist
collection PubMed
description The replacement of Neanderthals by Anatomically Modern Humans has typically been attributed to environmental pressure or a superiority of modern humans with respect to competition for resources. Here we present two independent models that suggest that no such heatedly debated factors might be needed to account for the demise of Neanderthals. Starting from the observation that Neanderthal populations already were small before the arrival of modern humans, the models implement three factors that conservation biology identifies as critical for a small population’s persistence, namely inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity. Our results indicate that the disappearance of Neanderthals might have resided in the smallness of their population(s) alone: even if they had been identical to modern humans in their cognitive, social and cultural traits, and even in the absence of inter-specific competition, Neanderthals faced a considerable risk of extinction. Furthermore, we suggest that if modern humans contributed to the demise of Neanderthals, that contribution might have had nothing to do with resource competition, but rather with how the incoming populations geographically restructured the resident populations, in a way that reinforced Allee effects, and the effects of inbreeding and stochasticity.
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spelling pubmed-68809832019-12-08 Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction Vaesen, Krist Scherjon, Fulco Hemerik, Lia Verpoorte, Alexander PLoS One Research Article The replacement of Neanderthals by Anatomically Modern Humans has typically been attributed to environmental pressure or a superiority of modern humans with respect to competition for resources. Here we present two independent models that suggest that no such heatedly debated factors might be needed to account for the demise of Neanderthals. Starting from the observation that Neanderthal populations already were small before the arrival of modern humans, the models implement three factors that conservation biology identifies as critical for a small population’s persistence, namely inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity. Our results indicate that the disappearance of Neanderthals might have resided in the smallness of their population(s) alone: even if they had been identical to modern humans in their cognitive, social and cultural traits, and even in the absence of inter-specific competition, Neanderthals faced a considerable risk of extinction. Furthermore, we suggest that if modern humans contributed to the demise of Neanderthals, that contribution might have had nothing to do with resource competition, but rather with how the incoming populations geographically restructured the resident populations, in a way that reinforced Allee effects, and the effects of inbreeding and stochasticity. Public Library of Science 2019-11-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6880983/ /pubmed/31774843 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225117 Text en © 2019 Vaesen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Vaesen, Krist
Scherjon, Fulco
Hemerik, Lia
Verpoorte, Alexander
Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title_full Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title_fullStr Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title_full_unstemmed Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title_short Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction
title_sort inbreeding, allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for neanderthal extinction
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6880983/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31774843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225117
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