The Arc of Life

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction: Evolutionary Medicine and Life History Theory

   • Donna J. Holmes, Grazyna Jasienska

   Pages 1-6

3. Intergenerational Memories of Past Nutritional Deprivation: The Phenotypic Inertia Model

   • Christopher W. Kuzawa, Ruby L. Fried

   Pages 7-20

4. Modeling Developmental Plasticity in Human Growth: Buffering the Past or Predicting the Future?

   • Jonathan C. K. Wells, Rufus A. Johnstone

   Pages 21-39

5. Development of Human Sociosexual Behavior

   • Peter B. Gray, Matthew H. McIntyre

   Pages 41-53

6. Evolutionary Perspectives on Teen Motherhood: How Young Is Too Young?

   • Karen L. Kramer

   Pages 55-75

7. Health, Evolution, and Reproductive Strategies in Men: New Hypotheses and Directions

   • Richard G. Bribiescas, Erin E. Burke

   Pages 77-97

8. Immunity, Hormones, and Life History Trade-Offs

   • Michael P. Muehlenbein, Sean P. Prall, Hidemi Nagao Peck

   Pages 99-120

9. Thyroid Disorders at Midlife: An Evolutionary Perspective

   • Lynnette Leidy Sievert

   Pages 121-138

10. Women’s Health in the Post-menopausal Age

    • Donna J. Holmes

    Pages 139-157

11. Costs of Reproduction, Health, and Life Span in Women

    • Grazyna Jasienska

    Pages 159-176

12. From Novel to Extreme: Contemporary Environments and Physiologic Dysfunction

    • Diana S. Sherry

    Pages 177-193

13. Back Matter

    Pages 195-199

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Given the rapidly developing area of evolutionary medicine and public health, The Arc of Life examines ways in which research conducted by biological anthropologists can enrich our understanding of variation in human health outcomes. The book aims not only to showcase the perspective that biological anthropologists bring to the burgeoning field of evolutionary medicine, but to underscore the context of human life history -- especially the concept of evolutionary trade-offs and the ensuing biological processes that can affect health status over the life course. This dual emphasis on life history theory and life cycle biology will make for a valuable and unique, yet complementary, addition to books already available on the subject of evolution and health. The book consolidates diverse lines of research within the field of biological anthropology, stimulates new directions for future research, and facilitates communication between subdisciplines of human biology operating at the forefront of evolutionary medicine.​

• Darwin
• anthropology
• evolutionary medicine
• human
• life cycle
• reproduction

“The volume consists of 11 chapters that track human life history from parental experiences through juvenile development, maturation, and midlife to postreproductive age. … This book will be used in graduate seminars in human biology and biological anthropology. … this is a stimulating progress report on the current state of one of several useful perspectives on evolutionary medicine.” (Stephen C. Stearns, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 92 (3), September, 2017) 

“The book is a good introduction to a diverse set of active research threads in biological anthropology on evolution, health and disease. I expect it will be of interest to a graduate students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary medicine as well as health professionals with an interest in health and disease as an interaction between our evolutionary past and our present environments.” (Daniel Hruschka, EvMed Review, evmedreview.com, January, 2017)

• Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

  Grazyna Jasienska

• School of Communication, Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College, Boston, USA

  Diana S. Sherry

• Department of Biological Sciences and WWAMI Medical Education Program, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

  Donna J. Holmes

Grazyna Jasienska, PhD:  Dr. Jasienska is a biological anthropologist whose research interests include reproductive ecology, human fertility, life history, and the implications of evolutionary biology for medicine and public health.  She has recently completed a book on the subject of evolutionary medicine entitled The Fragile Wisdom:  An Evolutionary View on Women's Biology and Health, currently in press by Harvard University Press.  Dr. Jasienska's research investigates the interactive effects of genetic, developmental and lifestyle determinants of variation in human reproductive function at both the population and individual level.  Most of her research takes place in rural Poland, where she directs the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site (Beskid Wyspowy range).  Dr. Jasienska is a Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland and a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Anthropology at Yale University.



Diana S. Sherry, PhD:  Dr. Sherry is a biological anthropologist with primary research interests in metabolic health and reproductive ecology and physiology.  She has studied the nutritional ecology of Hadza hunter-gatherers in relation to seasonal resource availability as well as the effects of body weight and insulin levels on the reproductive hormones of Samoan women in the context of a modernizing society.  Dr. Sherry is currently working on a book project in which she describes how modern environments can disrupt ancient physiology, leading to cumulative dysregulation across multiple systems.  On leave this year from her faculty position as Science Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute of Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College in Boston, Dr. Sherry maintains an active affiliation with the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.



Donna J. Holmes, PhD:  Dr. Holmes is an evolutionary biologist specializing in the comparative biology of aging whose main research interests focus on the evolution of lifespan and female reproductive aging across species, including humans.  Recent research projects have centered on the developmental and physiological trade-offs between reproduction, longevity, and health, including a comparative study on the prevention of aging-related oxidative damage to cells and tissues.  Dr. Holmes has edited special-topics issues for AGE:  Journal of the American Aging Society and currently serves on the editorial board.  She is also currently covering the topic of aging as Section Editor for Elsevier's third edition of the Encyclopedia of Human Biology.  Dr. Holmes is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the WWAMI Medical Education Program at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

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