I'm taking up ecology this summer as one of my majors. I've always liked this branch of Biology because its applications only require the use of common sense, and much of the principles that it tackles are very much observed in the real world. If you're looking for examples and applications for ecological principles, you need not look farther than your own backyard, so to speak. Ecology can actually explain the existence of certain human behaviors, customs and norms based on their biological significance. What's more interesting is ecology can actually turn the tables around with regards to what we consider evil and immoral using our very nature as surviving species as explanation.

Take human relationships, for example.

The principles that govern our need for loving relationships outside of family are very complex. Today, we see bachelorettes constantly searching for Mr. Right. They even list many characteristics that they deem to be 'perfect', i.e. tall, dark and handsome. Except in communities that allow it, it's against the law to have multiple wives. Churches and many a society encourage monogamy and condemn polygamy. Women, whose husbands are unfaithful----men with affairs, or worse, another family--- are considered the "victims", for the blow of their spouse's action land on them the hardest. Also, most adulterers are male, few are female. Moreover, it's observed that the women who actually are the third wheels to these adulterous unions are younger than the original wife. But what's actually surprising is that ecologically, all of these complexities have simple roots to the need to prove survival by reproduction. Another interesting thing to note with regards to polygamy and young girls going for older men is that no matter how feminist groups condemn and oppose them, we, the female species have actually condoned polygamy and the May-December affair syndrome because of the need to reproduce and propagate, the ultimate proof of species survivorship.

For humans, it's not new to see single women attracted to men older than they are, or married men with 5 kids. This "wrong" desire for a family man actually is rooted to a genetic and consequently, an ecological cause. Survivorship, or the ability of an organism to withstand stresses in the environment is ultimately measured by the capability of the organism to reproduce despite all of these environmental pressures and constant fluctuation. A female has a limited reproductive potential (with regards to time) as compared to a male. A female releases an egg only once in a month, thus, it only has this one chance for it to bear offspring as compared to males who produce millions and millions of sperm everyday, which gives them virtually an unlimited reproductive potential. Furthermore, females undergo a menopausal stage, in which their limited "reservoir" of gametes are nearly used up. Only roughly half a thousand of eggs are to be released in her entire lifetime. Therefore, "A male that mates with a weak or otherwise unfit female loses only a small part of his reproductive potential; a female making a similar mistake may sacrifice all of hers." (Lagunzad, 2008)

How does this relate to a bachelorette's checklist, liking older men and polygamy, then? Utimately, these things and the choices that come with them roots from the genetic and ecological need of females to make a choice between making sure that this one chance of giving birth to offspring is a "sure fire shot" or a missed opportunity. "Perfection" and "dream guy" characteristics are most likely the characteristics that we see that would contribute to the likelihood that our children would have a strong genetic background, and so we want those characteristics to be mixed with, or more fittingly impregnated into our gene pool. Old age is often tagged with strength, maturity and potency because obviously, age allows for experience and it's an evidence of your resistance to the destructive potentials of environmental fluctuation. More so if the male has offspring, because as said, reproductive capabilities are the ultimate proof of survivorship; having offspring ultimately makes a statement on your gene's "incorruptibility" with regards to constant action of natural selection on the environment.

What about emotions? This explanation clearly takes the contribution of emotions and logic of choices that we make when it comes to walking down the aisle, marrying a DOM or having an underground affair with a married man. Research shows that bachelorette checklists do not get completely filled out with little checkmarks after all---most women marry men that miss out on the characteristics that they ascribed to their perfect mate. It's a reality that women actually marry DOM's or have affairs with married men because of pure logic and practicality---the money factor. While the genetic and ecological explanation is sound, we can't simply reduce human complexity to the dictation of our genes. Our genes are not our guide dogs for the simple reason that we are not blind to need a guide dog at all.

While our genes do not ultimately determine the choices that we make, they clearly influence a large part of these cognitions, whether we are aware of them or not. The cognition that governs the fitness of the choices that we make with regards to the loving or romantic relationships we keep is another unexplored territory---another story to leave for the birds and the bees.

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This is to emphasize the need for careful choice on the part of females. And on another plane, let us be thankful for the men in our lives that chose to go against their genetic predisposition to go for more females (in part because of millions of years of female condoning) to be with you and only you. =)