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Cited by 130Wildlife Ecology and ConservationPrimate Behavior and EcologyLanguage and cultural evolution

Nonlinear scaling of space use in human hunter–gatherers

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Hamilton, Marcus J., Milne, Bruce T., Walker, Robert S., Brown, James H.·2007·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.0611197104PMC PMC1810510
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Abstract

Use of space by both humans and other mammals should reflect underlying physiological, ecological, and behavioral processes. In particular, the space used by an individual for its normal activities should reflect the interplay of three constraints: ( i ) metabolic resource demand, ( ii ) environmental resource supply, and ( iii ) social behaviors that determine the extent to which space is used exclusively or shared with other individuals. In wild mammals, there is an allometric scaling relation between the home range of an individual and its body size: Larger mammals require more space per individual, but this relation is additionally modified by productivity of the environment, trophic niche, sociality, and ability to defend a territory [Kelt DA, Van Vuren D (1999) Ecology 80: 337–340; Kelt DA, Van Vuren D (2001) Am Nat 157:637–645; Haskell JP, Ritchie ME, Olff H (2002) Nature 418:527–530; Damuth J (1987) Biol J Linn Soc 31:193–246; Damuth J (1981) Nature 290:699–700; and other previously published work]. In this paper we show how similar factors affect use of space by human hunter–gatherers, resulting in a nonlinear scaling relation between area used per individual and population size. The scaling exponent is less than one, so the area required by an average individual decreases with increasing population size, because social networks of material and information exchange introduce an economy of scale.

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  • Boserup's theory inspired a wide array of intensification theories across archaeology, anthropology, geography, development studies, economics, environmental history, and other disciplines and has been extended to include land tenure, social institutions, market forces, and nonagricultural populations.

    “Boserup’s theory inspired a wide array of intensification theories across archaeology (14), anthropology (38), geography (39), development studies (40), economics, environmental history, and other disciplines and has been extended to include land tenure and other social institutions, market forces, and nonagricultural populations (39, 41, 42).”

    From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [38]

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Research works printed but not linked: 15

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Related

Authors
Hamilton, M. J., Milne, B. T., Walker, R. S., & Brown, J. H.
Affiliations
  • University of New Mexico (US)
  • University of Colorado Denver (US)
  • Santa Fe Institute (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2007-03-13
Volume
104
Issue
11
Pages
4765-4769
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0611197104
PMC
PMC1810510
OpenAlex
W2116649620
Cited by
130
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 10
FWCI
4.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
Keywords
space use, hunter-gatherers, home range, allometric scaling, nonlinear scaling, population size, economies of scale, social networks, sociality, territoriality
MeSH terms
Behavior, Conservation of Natural Resources, Diet, Ecology, Environment, Food Supply, Geography, Humans, Models, Biological, Models, Theoretical, Population Density, Models, Statistical, Ecosystem

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