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Models of gene–culture evolution are incomplete without incorporating epigenetic effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2022

Gillian Ragsdale
Affiliation:
The Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair, NJ, USAgill.ragsdale@ronininstitute.orghttp://ronininstitute.org/
Robert Andrew Foley
Affiliation:
Department of Archeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK. raf10@cam.ac.uk

Abstract

Epigenetics impacts gene–culture coevolution by amplifying phenotypic variation, including clustering, and bridging the difference in timescales between genetic and cultural evolution. The dual inheritance model described by Uchiyama et al. could be modified to provide greater explanatory power by incorporating epigenetic effects.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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