How social behaviour and life-history traits change with age and in the year prior to death in female yellow-bellied marmots

Studies in natural populations are essential to understand the evolutionary ecology of senescence and terminal allocation. While there are an increasing number of studies investigating late-life variation in different life-history traits of wild populations, little is known about these patterns in social behaviour. We used long-term individual based data on yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) to quantify how affiliative social behaviours and different life-history traits vary with age and in the last year of life, and how patterns compare between the two. We found that some social behaviours and all life-history traits varied with age, whereas terminal last year of life effects were only observed in life-history traits. Our results imply that affiliative social behaviours do not act as a mechanism to adjust allocation among traits when close to death, and highlight the importance of adopting an integrative approach, studying late-life variation and senescence across multiple different traits, to allow the identification of potential trade-offs.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ageing and sociality: why, when and how does sociality change ageing patterns?’

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Warmer temperatures attenuate the classic offspring number and reproductive investment trade-off in the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2016.0101 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 20160101 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Alexis Rutschmann ◽

Donald B. Miles ◽

Jean Clobert ◽

Murielle Richard

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Trade Off ◽

Offspring Number ◽

Common Lizard ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Zootoca Vivipara ◽

The Common

Life-history traits involved in trade-offs are known to vary with environmental conditions. Here, we evaluate the response of the trade-off between ‘offspring number’ versus ‘energy invested per offspring’ to ambient temperature in 11 natural populations of the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara . We provide evidence at both the intra- and interpopulation levels that the trade-off is reduced with an increase in air temperature. If this effect enhances current individual fitness, it may lead to an accelerated pace of life in warmer environments and could ultimately increase adult mortality. In the context of global warming, our results advocate the need for more studies in natural populations to explore interactions between life-history traits' trade-offs and environmental conditions.

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Experimental evolution of parasite life-history traits in Strongyloides ratti (Nematoda)

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2006.0433 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 274 (1617) ◽

pp. 1467-1474 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Steve Paterson ◽

Rebecca Barber

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Experimental Evolution ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Evolutionary Ecology ◽

Response To Selection ◽

Trade Off ◽

Density Dependent ◽

Conspecific Density ◽

Trade Offs ◽

General Prediction

Evolutionary ecology predicts that parasite life-history traits, including a parasite's survivorship and fecundity within a host, will evolve in response to selection and that their evolution will be constrained by trade-offs between traits. Here, we test these predictions using a nematode parasite of rats, Strongyloides ratti , as a model. We performed a selection experiment by passage of parasite progeny from either early in an infection (‘fast’ lines) or late in an infection (‘slow’ lines). We found that parasite fecundity responded to selection but that parasite survivorship did not. We found a trade-off mediated via conspecific density-dependent constraints; namely, that fast lines exhibit higher density-independent fecundity than slow lines, but fast lines suffered greater reduction in fecundity in the presence of density-dependent constraints than slow lines. We also found that slow lines both stimulate a higher level of IgG1, which is a marker for a Th2-type immune response, and show less of a reduction in fecundity in response to IgG1 levels than for fast lines. Our results confirm the general prediction that parasite life-history traits can evolve in response to selection and indicate that such evolutionary responses may have significant implications for the epidemiology of infectious disease.

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Life history mediates the trade-offs among different components of demographic resilience

10.1101/2021.06.30.450480 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Pol Capdevila ◽

Iain Stott ◽

James Cant ◽

Maria Beger ◽

Gwilym Rowlands ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Large Scale ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Reproductive Capacity ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Recovery Times ◽

History Of ◽

Highly Correlated

Accelerating rates of biodiversity loss underscore the need to understand how species achieve resilience, their ability to resist and recover from a/biotic disturbances. Yet, the factors determining the resilience of species remain poorly understood, due to disagreements on its definition and the lack of large-scale analyses. Here, we investigate how the life history of 785 natural populations of animals and plants predict their intrinsic ability to be resilient. We show that demographic resilience can be achieved through different combinations of compensation, resistance, and recovery after a disturbance. We demonstrate that these resilience components are highly correlated with life history traits related to the species' pace of life and reproductive strategy. Species with longer generation times require longer recovery times post-disturbance, while those with greater reproductive capacity have greater resistance and compensation. Our findings highlight the key role of life history traits to understand species resilience, improving our ability to predict how natural populations cope with disturbance regimes.

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Hormones and Behavior

The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Endocrinology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190649739.013.2 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 11-26

Author(s):

Maren N. Vitousek ◽

Laura A. Schoenle

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Life Histories ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Developmental Plasticity ◽

Endocrine System ◽

Phenotypic Traits ◽

Social Environments ◽

Trade Offs ◽

And Behavior

Hormones mediate the expression of life history traits—phenotypic traits that contribute to lifetime fitness (i.e., reproductive timing, growth rate, number and size of offspring). The endocrine system shapes phenotype by organizing tissues during developmental periods and by activating changes in behavior, physiology, and morphology in response to varying physical and social environments. Because hormones can simultaneously regulate many traits (hormonal pleiotropy), they are important mediators of life history trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival. This chapter reviews the role of hormones in shaping life histories with an emphasis on developmental plasticity and reversible flexibility in endocrine and life history traits. It also discusses the advantages of studying hormone–behavior interactions from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research in evolutionary endocrinology has provided insight into the heritability of endocrine traits, how selection on hormone systems may influence the evolution of life histories, and the role of hormonal pleiotropy in driving or constraining evolution.

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Mapping the adaptive landscape of a major agricultural pathogen reveals evolutionary constraints across heterogeneous environments

The ISME Journal ◽

10.1038/s41396-020-00859-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anik Dutta ◽

Fanny E. Hartmann ◽

Carolina Sardinha Francisco ◽

Bruce A. McDonald ◽

Daniel Croll

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Large Scale ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Genetic Correlations ◽

Stress Factors ◽

Life History Trait ◽

Adaptive Landscape ◽

Heterogeneous Environments ◽

Growth Responses ◽

Trade Offs

AbstractThe adaptive potential of pathogens in novel or heterogeneous environments underpins the risk of disease epidemics. Antagonistic pleiotropy or differential resource allocation among life-history traits can constrain pathogen adaptation. However, we lack understanding of how the genetic architecture of individual traits can generate trade-offs. Here, we report a large-scale study based on 145 global strains of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici from four continents. We measured 50 life-history traits, including virulence and reproduction on 12 different wheat hosts and growth responses to several abiotic stressors. To elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation, we used genome-wide association mapping coupled with genetic correlation analyses. We show that most traits are governed by polygenic architectures and are highly heritable suggesting that adaptation proceeds mainly through allele frequency shifts at many loci. We identified negative genetic correlations among traits related to host colonization and survival in stressful environments. Such genetic constraints indicate that pleiotropic effects could limit the pathogen’s ability to cause host damage. In contrast, adaptation to abiotic stress factors was likely facilitated by synergistic pleiotropy. Our study illustrates how comprehensive mapping of life-history trait architectures across diverse environments allows to predict evolutionary trajectories of pathogens confronted with environmental perturbations.

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Nutritional physiology of life-history trade-offs: how food protein-carbohydrate content influences life-history traits in the wing-polymorphic cricket Gryllus firmus

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.112888 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 218 (2) ◽

pp. 298-308 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

R. M. Clark ◽

A. J. Zera ◽

S. T. Behmer

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Carbohydrate Content ◽

Food Protein ◽

Gryllus Firmus ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Nutritional Physiology

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Demographic life history traits of reproductive natterjack toads (Bufo calamita) vary between northern and southern latitudes

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/156853806778189918 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 365-375 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Delfi Sanuy ◽

Christoph Leskovar ◽

Neus Oromi ◽

Ulrich Sinsch

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Large Female ◽

Breeding Period ◽

Female Size ◽

Data Set ◽

Bufo Calamita ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Age Variation ◽

The Cost

AbstractDemographic life history traits were investigated in three Bufo calamita populations in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate: Urmitz, 50°N; 1998-2000) and Spain (Catalonia: Balaguer, Mas de Melons, 41°N; 2004). We used skeletochronology to estimate the age as number of lines of arrested growth in breeding adults collected during the spring breeding period (all localities) and during the summer breeding period (only Urmitz). A data set including the variables sex, age and size of 185 males and of 87 females was analyzed with respect to seven life history traits (age and size at maturity of the youngest first breeders, age variation in first breeders, longevity, potential reproductive lifespan, median lifespan, age-size relationship). Spring and summer cohorts at the German locality differed with respect to longevity and potential reproductive lifespan by one year in favour of the early breeders. The potential consequences on fitness and stability of cohorts are discussed. Latitudinal variation of life history traits was mainly limited to female natterjacks in which along a south-north gradient longevity and potential reproductive lifespan increased while size decreased. These results and a review of published information on natterjack demography suggest that lifetime number of offspring seem to be optimized by locally different trade-offs: large female size at the cost of longevity in southern populations and increased longevity at the cost of size in northern ones.

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The energy allocation trade-offs underlying life history traits in hypometabolic strepsirhines and other primates

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-93764-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Bruno Simmen ◽

Luca Morino ◽

Stéphane Blanc ◽

Cécile Garcia

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Energy Expenditure ◽

Body Mass ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Brain Size ◽

Energy Allocation ◽

Interbirth Interval ◽

Energy Investment ◽

Litter Mass ◽

Trade Offs

AbstractLife history, brain size and energy expenditure scale with body mass in mammals but there is little conclusive evidence for a correlated evolution between life history and energy expenditure (either basal/resting or daily) independent of body mass. We addressed this question by examining the relationship between primate free-living daily energy expenditure (DEE) measured by doubly labeled water method (n = 18 species), life history variables (maximum lifespan, gestation and lactation duration, interbirth interval, litter mass, age at first reproduction), resting metabolic rate (RMR) and brain size. We also analyzed whether the hypometabolic primates of Madagascar (lemurs) make distinct energy allocation tradeoffs compared to other primates (monkeys and apes) with different life history traits and ecological constraints. None of the life-history traits correlated with DEE after controlling for body mass and phylogeny. In contrast, a regression model showed that DEE increased with increasing RMR and decreasing reproductive output (i.e., litter mass/interbirth interval) independent of body mass. Despite their low RMR and smaller brains, lemurs had an average DEE remarkably similar to that of haplorhines. The data suggest that lemurs have evolved energy strategies that maximize energy investment to survive in the unusually harsh and unpredictable environments of Madagascar at the expense of reproduction.

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