Local extinctions, Connectedness, and Cultural Evolution in Structured Populations

Population geneticists have shown that the effects of local extinction and recolonization on selectively neutral genetic diversity are sensitive to the number of individuals that migrate between groups. Here, we employ a spatially explicit metapopulation model to investigate the extent to which the effects of local extinction on selectively neutral cultural diversity and change are sensitive to intergroup cultural transmission — the rate at which cultural variants are transmitted between groups. Our results show that the level of intergroup cultural transmission as well as the topology of the social network that mediates cultural transmission between groups influence the way in which local extinctions affect total diversity, group differentiation, and the rate at which copy errors accumulate in structured populations. The results are discussed in the context of the archaeological record of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies.