ABSTRACT
Wynne-Edwards' theory of population homeostasis belongs to the class of evolutionary theories of behavior. These proceed from the axiom that a behavioral pattern, like any physical characteristic, has a selective advantage if it increases the probability that its bearer will survive and successfully reproduce. Wynne-Edwards suggests that numbers grow to the point of filling a habitat with respect to its food supplies, and that each species tends to disperse its members so that the population is denser where food is more abundant and less dense where food is less so. The chapter illustrates the diverse behaviors which have the potential, and which have in fact operated, to regulate human population densities. It will be noted that such mechanisms are activated before starvation threatens survival of the majority, and that they focus on an issue other than competition for food. The chapter suggests the quality of arbitrariness in criteria for identifying favored individuals is present in human as in animal societies.
