Height and Reproductive Success: Is Bigger Always Better?

Abstract

Height is of great interest to the general public and academics alike. It is an easily observable and easily measurable characteristic, and one that appears to be correlated with a number of important outcomes, from survival to intelligence to employment and marriage prospects. It is also of interest to evolutionary biologists, as the end product of life history decisions made during the period of growth. Such decisions will depend at least partly on the payoffs to size in adulthood. This chapter surveys the costs and benefits of height during adulthood: what are the consequences of height in terms of mortality rate, mating success and fertility outcomes for each sex, and how much do these differ between environments? It is clear from this survey that relationships between height and fitness correlates show considerable variation between populations, suggesting that the costs and benefits of height depend on environmental conditions. If any tentative conclusion can be drawn it is that while short height is rarely advantageous, particularly for men, tall height is not universally beneficial, particularly for women. We can also conclude that height is clearly still important for fitness correlates in modern environments, thereby demonstrating that we have yet to leave our biological imperative behind.