Biomedical subjects

Samuel Pavard

Publications and source records attributed to Samuel Pavard.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Why evolutionary biologists should be demographers.

Evolution is driven by the propagation of genes, traits and individuals within and between populations. This propagation depends on the survival, fertility and dispersal of individuals at each age or stage during their life history, as well as on population growth and (st)age structure. Demography is therefore central to understanding evolution. Recent demographic research provides new perspectives on fitness, the spread of mutations within populations and the establishment of life histories in a phylogenetic context. New challenges resulting from individual heterogeneity, and instances where survival and reproduction are linked across generations are being recognized. Evolutionary demography is a field of exciting developments through both methodological and empirical advances. Here, we review these developments and outline two emergent research questions.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Mother's death and child survival: the case of early Quebec.

The aim of this paper is to account for the effect of mother's death on child survival in a historical population. Using comprehensive data on the early French Canadian population of Quebec, evidence is provided for a higher risk of dying for motherless children that remains significant over all childhood and long after the death of the mother. The specific effect of the loss of maternal care was estimated by comparing mortality before and after mother's death, furnishing a means to control for family heterogeneity. No differential in investment between genders was detected before age 3, but older girls suffered a three-fold higher susceptibility to mother's death than their male counterparts. This suggests that grown-up girls assuming the responsibilities of the missing mother had a lower chance of survival.

Age Factors↗