Online Seminar Talk

Two Papers Exploring the Mechanisms Linking Climate Change, Heat Waves, and Fertility

Laboratory of Population Health
Online Seminar Talk, May 18, 2021

Joshua Wilde from the Laboratory of Population Health at MPIDR gives an Online Seminar Talk.

Abstract

The literature linking climate change to fertility is relatively new. While it is generally understood that elevated temperatures reduce fertility rates nine month later, the precise mechanisms driving this decline are less understood. In this presentation, Joshua Wilde will present a brief history of this literature and then outline two of his recent projects which test two different causal mechanisms linking temperature and fertility.  

The first paper (with Sophie Lohmann and Wei Chen) explores behavioral change in sexual and mate-seeking behavior during heat waves by analyzing the effect of temperature on Google search behavior. The researchers find that heat waves increase searches for pornography, while cold temperatures increase searches for online dating, suggesting temperature-induced substitution between solo and partnered sexual behavior. 

The second paper (with Anna Dimitrova and Raya Muttarak from the Wittgenstein Center) explores changes in fetal loss resulting from elevated temperatures in low- and middle-income countries. The researchers use changes in the sex ratio at birth as an indicator of fetal loss, and find that both heat waves and cold snaps during the first trimester of pregnancy reduce the number of male births, consistent with male fragility and fetal loss.

Register to Take Part

You would like to attend the Online Seminar Talk? You are very welcome. Please register by writing an e-mail to sekmyrskyla@demogr.mpg.de.

Online Seminar Talk, May, 18th from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (Rostock time)