Virpi Lummaa Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK Title The Purpose of Grandmothers: Reproduction, Senescence and Longevity in Humans Abstract The aim of my research is to understand variation in reproductive success, longevity and the strategies applied by individuals to maximize their evolutionary success in human populations. I use large multi-generational data sets recording reproductive performance and survival of recognizable individuals over their whole lifespan, combined with relevant background information on the local environmental conditions and resource availability for each family.Currently, my research involves work on three long-term studies with individually-based records: historical rural Finns, historical nomadic Sami of Northern Scandinavia, historical rural Canadians. The main questions currently asked involve: Constructing heritability estimates for demographic life-history traits in different human populations and measuring selection on them Estimating inbreeding and outbreeding effects on fitness in humans Studying trade-offs in reproductive strategies Examining the causes and consequences of family-living in humans Studying the effects of early conditions on reproductive performance and survival CV Professional experience 2003-present: Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK 2001-2003: Marie Curie Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK 2000-2001: Academy of Finland Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK 1997-1999: Ph.D, University of Turku, Finland Current Collaborations University of Sheffield: Andy Russell University of Cambridge: Tim Clutton-Brock Imperial College, London: Tim Coulson University of Quebec: Marc Tremblay LSHTM, London: Andrew Prentice and Sophie Moore University of Oulu: Jukka Jokela Selected recent publications: Helle, S, Lummaa, V & Jokela, J (2005): Late, but not early, reproduction correlated with longevity in historical Sami women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 272: 29-37. Pettay, JE, Kruuk, LEB, Jokela, J & Lummaa, V (2005): Heritability and genetic constraints of life-history trait evolution in pre-industrial humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of U.S.A. 102: 2838-2843. Helle S, Lummaa V & Jokela J (2004): Accelerated immunosenescense in pre-industrial twin mothers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of U.S.A. 101: 12391-12396. Helle S, Lummaa V & Jokela J (2004): Selection for increased brood size in pre-industrial humans. Evolution 58: 430-436 Lahdenperä M, Lummaa V, Helle S, Tremblay M & Russell, A. F. (2004): Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women. Nature 428: 178-181. Lahdenperä, M, Lummaa, V & Russell, AF (2004): Menopause: Why does fertility end before life? Climacteric 7: 1-5. Lummaa V (2003): Reproductive success and early developmental conditions in humans: downstream effects of pre-natal famine, birth weight and timing of birth. American Journal of Human Biology 15: 370-379. Lummaa V & Tremblay M (2003): Month of birth predicted reproductive success and fitness in pre-modern Canadian women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 270: 2355-2361. Institution address Virpi Lummaa University of Sheffield Department of Animal and Plant Sciences Western Bank Sheffield S10 2TN United Kingdom Tel.: +44 (0)114 222 0051 Fax: +44 (0)114 222 0002 v.lummaa@sheffield.ac.uk http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/aps/hlhp/virpi-personal.html or http://www.shef.ac.uk/aps/contacts/acadstaff/lummaa.html or http://www.huli.group.shef.ac.uk/