Post-reproductive representation across mammals: corrected-census audit and robustness validation

Résumé fourni par la source

Version 2.0 documents a corrected-census audit and robustness validation of the comparative mammalian post-reproductive representation (PrR) project. The original frozen 99-species discovery dataset is preserved unchanged. A post-submission audit identified seven eligible species that had been inadvertently omitted from the final census, yielding a corrected census of 106 taxa. Four recovered species had defensible quantitative PrR data and entered the corrected continuous analysis, increasing the analyzable sample from 77 to 81 species; three recovered species retained unknown PrR and were not imputed. The corrected-census validation uses 100 newly generated VertLife phylogenies containing all 106 taxa. Because the exact historical research-effort snapshot could not be reconstructed for the recovered species, research effort was evaluated under five bounded research-effort index (REI) scenarios spanning 0 to 1, including deliberately conservative allocations rather than retrospectively estimated values. Across these sensitivity scenarios, established persistent traditions remained positively associated with PrR, whereas generic social learning was not statistically supported. The corrected continuous analysis addresses a different estimand from the original positive-only discovery analysis and should be interpreted as a robustness validation rather than a replacement or replication of that analysis. Version 2.0 preserves the complete Version 1.0 replication package and adds the corrected-census audit, 106-taxon phylogenies, corrected continuous analytical outputs, REI sensitivity analyses, provenance documentation, and validation materials. All analyses are observational and do not establish temporal precedence or causality. Post-reproductive representation should not be interpreted as equivalent to physiological menopause; it is a comparative population-level measure of post-reproductive life.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.