Published online on February 4, 2008, 10.1073/pnas.0710711104 OPEN
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POPULATION BIOLOGY
Ambient temperature predicts *** ratios and male longevity
Ralph Catalano, Tim Bruckner, and Kirk R. Smith*
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA
94720-7360 (sent for review September 15, 2007)
Contributed by Kirk R. Smith, November 15, 2007 (sent for review
September 15, 2007)
Abstract
The theory that natural selection has conserved mechanisms by which
women subjected to environmental stressors abort frail male fetuses
implies that climate change may affect *** ratio at birth and male
longevity. Using time series methods, we find that cold ambient
temperatures during gestation predict lower secondary *** ratios and
longer life span of males in annual birth cohorts composed of Danes,
Finns, Norwegians, and Swedes born between 1878 (earliest year with
complete life tables) and 1914 (last birth cohort for which male life
span can be estimated). We conclude that ambient temperature affects
the characteristics of human populations by influencing who survives
gestation, a heretofore unrecognized effect of climate on humanity.
climate change | global warming | natural selection | Scandinavia |
time series
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Footnotes
Author contributions: R.C. and K.R.S. designed research; R.C. and T.B.
performed research; R.C., T.B., and K.R.S. analyzed data; and R.C.,
T.B., and K.R.S. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
krksmith@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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