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SummaryThe resolution of parent–offspring conflict (POC) might sway in favour of the offspring if the parent relies on offspring-supplied information about need. Here, three hypotheses from a resolution model of POC were tested using data on sickness histories and mother–infant interactions from 24 Karo Batak women and their young children from two rural villages in North Sumatra, Indonesia. First, as predicted, offspring with greater need (measured as age and propensity to illness) tended to fuss more often. Second, as expected, observed fussiness predicted the number of suckling occurrences observed during sampling periods. Third, contrary to the prediction, the duration of fussing observed after breast-feeding occurrences was longer than the duration of the breast-feeding occurrences themselves. Parental decisions were made based on offspring-supplied information about need, but offspring failed to garner resources in excess of the parental optimum. This suggests that a POC interpretation is unnecessary to account for these results.

Abstract

Land ownership shapes natural resource management and social-ecological resilience, but the factors determining ownership norms in human societies remain unclear. Here we conduct a global empirical test of long-standing theories from ecology, economics and anthropology regarding potential drivers of land ownership and territoriality. Prior theory suggests that resource defensibility, subsistence strategies, population pressure, political complexity and cultural transmission mechanisms may all influence land ownership. We applied multi-model inference procedures based on logistic regression to cultural and environmental data from 102 societies, 71 with some form of land ownership and 31 with no land ownership. We found an increased probability of land ownership in mountainous environments, where patchy resources may be more cost effective to defend via ownership. We also uncovered support for the role of population pressure, with a greater probability of land ownership in societies living at higher population densities. Our results also show more land ownership when neighboring societies also practiced ownership. We found less support for variables associated with subsistence strategies and political complexity. ; This study was funded by The National Science Foundation (award 1519987).

Abstract