Ecological Determinism and Sociobiology


Emlen, S.T. (1980). In: Sociobiology: beyond Nature/Nurture. (Barlow, G.W. and Silverberg, J. (Eds)), American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 

The ecological frontier of sociobiology is concerned with understanding and predicting the forms of social organization that are found in nature. Its principles are based on behavioral and ecological models of predator-prey interaction, optimal foraging strategy, and resource defendability and accumulation. Its basic premise is that given certain ecological constraints ("problems"), there exist a limited subset of adaptive social organizations ("solutions"). This is because alterations in group size, foraging patterns, territorial defense, etc. that are maladaptive (e.g., in terms of effective predator defense or efficient resource use) initiate negative feedback in the form of decreased energetic intake, deterioration of physiological condition, and, ultimately, reduced fecundity and survival. Such ecological feedback is a stabilizing influence, shaping certain features of society structure to maximize the ability of the participants to cope efficiently with the constraints imposed by the environment.

When applied to human societies, anthropologists are finding the ecological approach valuable provided the society in question is closely linked with its environment. Predictions become more difficult in discussing modern, industrialized societies since technology provides man with a temporary buffer from the ecological consequences of his actions. Feedback mechanisms no longer operate efficiently and stabilizing and adaptive responses of society are obscured.

What are the practical applications of ecological sociobiology? Recently biologists have been able to alter several major features of animal social organizations (tenancies toward gregariousness, territoriality, and monogamous versus polygamous mating) by experimentally manipulating the abundance and distribution patterns of critical resources. The principles emerging from such studies should prove invaluable in programs of wildlife management and land use modification. And we must ask whether analogous "manipulations" might be feasible (or justifiable) in human societies. When we export technology to a people who live in close harmony with their environment, we often are introducing new resource bases or altering the distribution of existing ones. Frequently, a side result of such "manipulations" is a major disruption in the social structure of the recipient group. In the future, ecological sociobiologists and anthropologists should become increasingly able to predict many of these changes in advance, and to suggest means of keeping their disruptive nature to a minimum.