Biodemography is the science dealing with the integration of biological theory and demography.Department of Health and Human Services
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Overview

Biodemography is a new branch of human (classical) demography concerned with understanding the complementary biological and demographic determinants of and interactions between the birth and death processes that shape individuals, cohorts and

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

s. The biological component brings human demography under the unifying theoretical umbrella of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, and the demographic component provides an analytical foundation for many of the principles upon which evolutionary theory rests including fitness,

selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strate ...

, structure, and change. Biodemographers are concerned with birth and death processes as they relate to populations in general and to humans in particular, whereas population biologists specializing in life history theory are interested in these processes only insofar as they relate to fitness and evolution. Traditionally, evolutionary biologists seldom focused on older, post-

reproductive The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

s because these individuals (it is typically argued) do not contribute to fitness. In contrast, biodemographers embraced research programs expressly designed to study individuals at ages beyond their reproductive years because information on these age classes will shed important light on

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for " life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always ...

and

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. I ...

. The biological and demographic components of biodemography are not hierarchical but reciprocal in that both are primary windows on the world and are thus synergistic, complementary and mutually informing. However, there has been much more synthesis between the approaches to demographic research in recent years, such that collaboration between evolutionary, ecology and demographic researchers is increasingly common. An example of this is the "Evolutionary Demography Society", formed in 2012/2013 to increase opportunities for inter and multidisciplinary approaches to understanding how life history and ageing are related and lead to different population demographics. Biodemography is one of a small number of key subdisciplines arising from the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...

that has embraced biology such as

evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...

and

neuroeconomics Neuroeconomics is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to explain human decision-making, the ability to process multiple alternatives and to follow through on a plan of action. It studies how economic behavior can shape our understanding of the ...

. However, unlike the others which focus more narrowly on biological sub-areas (

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

) or concepts (evolution), biodemography has no explicit biological boundaries. As a consequence, it is an interdisciplinary concept, but maintains biological roots. The hierarchical organizations that are inherent to both biology (cell, organ, individual) and demography (individual cohort, population) form a chain in which the individual serves as the link between the lower mechanistic levels, and the higher functional levels. Biodemography serves to inform research on human aging through theory building using mathematical and

statistical modeling A statistical model is a mathematical model that embodies a set of statistical assumptions concerning the generation of sample data (and similar data from a larger population). A statistical model represents, often in considerably idealized form, ...

hypothesis testing A statistical hypothesis test is a method of statistical inference used to decide whether the data at hand sufficiently support a particular hypothesis. Hypothesis testing allows us to make probabilistic statements about population parameters. ...

using experimental methods, and coherence-seeking using genetics and evolutionary concepts.

References

External links

Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity

Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

National Institute on AgingBiodemography and Social Biology
Academic journal. Demography

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links