Human Evolutionary Ecology and Health James Holland Jones

Climate Change, Adaptation, Mobility

Dense network

Humans have been adapting to changing climates since the origin of the genus Homo. A major focus of current work is understanding how this remarkable capacity for adaptation can be leveraged to deal with the downsides of climate change.

Exchange networks and mobility are key human adaptations to changing environmental circumstances. Changing patterns of network ties and mobility also clearly have consequences for the dynamics of infectious disease. 

Key collaborators in this work include Anne Pisor, Elspeth Ready, and Ashley Hazel, among others. 

Representative Papers

Pisor, A.C., D. Touma, D. Singh, and J.H. Jones. To Understand Climate Change Adaptation We Must Characterize Climate Variability. Here’s How. One Earth. 6 (12):1665-1676. (doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2023.11.005). [Preprint: doi:10.31219/osf.io/r382h]

Turner, M.A., A.L. Singleton, M. Harris, I. Harryman, C.A. Lopez, R.F. Arthur, C. Muraida, and J.H. Jones. (2023) Minority-group incubators and majority-group reservoirs support the diffusion of climate change adaptations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B. 378 (1889):20220401. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2022.0401) [Preprint: doi:10.31235/osf.io/28eaj]


Jones, J.H. and E. Ready. Subsistence Risk-Management Networks. SocArXiv, 10 November 2022. (doi:10.31235/osf.io/9det8)

Pisor, A.C., X. Basurto, K.G. Douglass, K.J. Mach, E. Ready, J.M. Tylianakis, A. Hazel, M.A. Kline, K.L. Kramer, J.S. Lansing, M. Moritz, P.E. Smaldino, T.F. Thornton, and J.H. Jones. 2022. Effective climate change adaptation means supporting community autonomy. Nature Climate Change.  12: 213–215. (doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01303-x)

Jones, J.H., E. Ready, and A.C. Pisor. (2021) Want Climate-Change Adaptation? Evolutionary Theory Can Help. American Journal of Human Biology. 33(4): e23539. 33(4): e23592. (doi:10.1002/ajhb.23539)

Jones, J.H., A.C. Pisor, K.G. Douglass, R.B. Bird, E. Ready, A. Hazel, J. Hackman, K.L. Kramer, T.A. Kohler, H. Pontzer, M.C. Towner. (2021) How Can Evolutionary and Biological Anthropologists Engage Broader Audiences. American Journal of Human Biology. 33(4): e23592. (doi:10.1002/ajhb.23592)

Pisor, A.C. and J.H. Jones.  (2021) Do People Manage Climate Risk Through Long-Distance Relationships? American Journal of Human Biology. 33(4): e23525. (10.1002/ajhb.23525)

Pisor, A.C. and J.H. Jones. (2021) Human Adaptation to Climate Change: An Introduction to the Special Issue. 33(4): e23530. American Journal of Human Biology. (doi:10.1002/ajhb.23530)

Hazel, A., G. Meeks, N. Bharti, J. Jakurama, J. Matundu, K. Tjinginda, J.H. Jones. (2021) Women's Responses to Climate Change in Rural Namibia: Subsistence, Social Ties, and Reproductive Health.  American Journal of Human Biology. 33(4): e23633. (doi:10.1002/ajhb.23633)

Clech, L., J.H. Jones, and M. Gibson. (2020) Inequality in the Household and Rural–Urban Migration in Ethiopian Farmers. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2:e9. (doi:10.1017/ehs.2020.10)

Hazel, M.A. and J.H. Jones (2018) Remoteness Influences Access to Sexual Partners and Drives Patterns of Viral Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevalence Among Nomadic Pastoralists. PLoS ONE. 13(1): e0191168. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0191168)