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LIFE-HISTORY EVOLUTION

The mystery of life beyond menopause

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1604–1605 (2017)Cite this article

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The quantitative genetics of reproduction and lifespan in a Utah population from the 1800s reveal no support for any of the three most prominent hypotheses invoked for why women live so long past menopause.

Since George Williams’ landmark 1957 paper on the evolution of aging1, the evolutionary paradox of menopause (or, more precisely, human female post-reproductive lifespan) has stimulated extensive reflection and research by evolutionary biologists and anthropologists. How could fitness ever be improved by ceasing reproduction? Williams proposed that maternal care of existing offspring might explain it; this idea was later expanded to include grandmaternal care and became known as the grandmother hypothesis2. Two major alternative hypotheses include covariation in lifespan between the sexes3 and trajectories of decline that are optimized for early life health rather than precise timing of death4. However, until now, all discussion has been theoretical.

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Fig. 1: A simplified version of the conceptual model developed by Moorad and Walling5 to examine the evolution of human post-reproductive lifespan.

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  1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, 3001 12e Ave N, Sherbrooke, Québec, J0B 2P0, Canada

    Alan A. Cohen

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  1. Alan A. Cohen
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Correspondence to Alan A. Cohen.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Cohen, A.A. The mystery of life beyond menopause. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1604–1605 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0356-7

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