FE4

Question 1

Provide an ultimate explanation for the periovulatory nadir in caloric intake found in many mammals, including humans.

Answer 1

• Sexual desire and hunger have an inverse relationship
• The less time you spend eating, the more time you have to hunt
• Proximate: Estrogen potentiates the CCK action that tells you you’re full.

Question 2

To date, the periovulatory nadir has only been investigated using data from women living in the contemporary United States. Often, evolutionary investigators seek to conduct research in societies that more closely resemble those of our ancestors (i.e., the human EEA), as investigators are concerned that features of modern societies may lead to spurious results. However, in the case of the periovulatory nadir, data collected from U.S. women actually constitute a strong test of the hypothesis at issue, i.e., the results are unlikely to be spurious. Explain why this is so

Answer 2

• Availability of resources is not an issue

Question 3

Independent of the question of caloric intake, aspects of life in the contemporary U.S. may
make it difficult to measure phenomena thought to be related to the periovulatory nadir. Explain why, drawing on the concept of evolutionary disequilibrium in your response (be sure to first define this term before applying it).

Answer 3

• Evolutionary disequilibrium: our environment has changed so rapidly that we haven’t been able to rapidly adjust to and adapt to it.
• Because there’s various mechanisms of getting around, it’s hard to measure whether they move around more. Ideally they would be on the hunt for males, but maybe this is satisfied just by browsing the internet, or seeing attractive males on television

Question 4

It is possible that, in humans, the extent of the periovulatory nadir is dependent on a woman’s sociosexual circumstances. Imagine two hypothetical women, as follows: Woman A is in a committed, long-term relationship with a very handsome man; Woman B is in a committed, long-term relationship with a man of below-average physical attractiveness. Explain how we might expect these two women to differ in regard to the extent of the periovulatory nadir, and provide ultimate explanations for each of your predictions.

Answer 4

• Woman A has a man with good genes. Woman B would want an extra pair copulation to get better genes
• Good genes vs. being taken care of
• Pool boy strategy

Question 5

) If the pattern that you described in your response to (d) were found to occur, what would this tell us regarding changes that must have occurred in the mechanism responsible for this pattern when compared to homologous mechanisms found in species with zero male post-zygotic investment?

Answer 5

• We’d want to be more careful about the partner we choose.
• They wouldn’t risk losing parental investment.
• During ovulation is the time that it’s worth the risk because it’s the time we’re most likely to conceive.