scholarly journals Impaired Perinatal Growth and Longevity: A Life History Perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah M. Sloboda ◽  
Alan S. Beedle ◽  
Cinda L. Cupido ◽  
Peter D. Gluckman ◽  
Mark H. Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Metabolic Dysfunction ◽  
Repair Capacity ◽  
Extrinsic Mortality ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

Life history theory proposes that early-life cues induce highly integrated responses in traits associated with energy partitioning, maturation, reproduction, and aging such that the individual phenotype is adaptively more appropriate to the anticipated environment. Thus, maternal and/or neonatally derived nutritional or endocrine cues suggesting a threatening environment may favour early growth and reproduction over investment in tissue reserve and repair capacity. These may directly affect longevity, as well as prioritise insulin resistance and capacity for fat storage, thereby increasing susceptibility to metabolic dysfunction and obesity. These shifts in developmental trajectory are associated with long-term expression changes in specific genes, some of which may be underpinned by epigenetic processes. This normative process of developmental plasticity may prove to be maladaptive in human environments in transition towards low extrinsic mortality and energy-dense nutrition, leading to the development of an inappropriate phenotype with decreased potential for longevity and/or increased susceptibility to metabolic disease.

Life History Theory and economic modernity

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hewson
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Account ◽  
Life Traits ◽  
Bodies Of Evidence

Abstract Baumard's new explanation of the Industrial Revolution shows that Life History Theory holds great potential. Here, I suggest two related hypotheses for examination. One is that there are long-term roots of slow life traits and preferences. The other is that Life History Theory can explain other aspects of economic modernity such as the Scientific Revolution and bureaucratic states. If so, then Life History Theory offers a way to reconcile several bodies of evidence and lines of explanation into a coherent general account of economic modernity.

scholarly journals Towards cancer-aware life-history modelling

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1673) ◽  
pp. 20140234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Kokko ◽  
Michael E. Hochberg
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Cancer Susceptibility ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Extrinsic Mortality ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
In The Wild

Studies of body size evolution, and life-history theory in general, are conducted without taking into account cancer as a factor that can end an organism's reproductive lifespan. This reflects a tacit assumption that predation, parasitism and starvation are of overriding importance in the wild. We argue here that even if deaths directly attributable to cancer are a rarity in studies of natural populations, it remains incorrect to infer that cancer has not been of importance in shaping observed life histories. We present first steps towards a cancer-aware life-history theory, by quantifying the decrease in the length of the expected reproductively active lifespan that follows from an attempt to grow larger than conspecific competitors. If all else is equal, a larger organism is more likely to develop cancer, but, importantly, many factors are unlikely to be equal. Variations in extrinsic mortality as well as in the pace of life—larger organisms are often near the slow end of the fast–slow life-history continuum—can make realized cancer incidences more equal across species than what would be observed in the absence of adaptive responses to cancer risk (alleviating the so-called Peto's paradox). We also discuss reasons why patterns across species can differ from within-species predictions. Even if natural selection diminishes cancer susceptibility differences between species, within-species differences can remain. In many sexually dimorphic cases, we predict males to be more cancer-prone than females, forming an understudied component of sexual conflict.

scholarly journals How much calcium to shell out? Eggshell calcium carbonate content is greater in birds with thinner shells, larger clutches and longer lifespans

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (182) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. McClelland ◽  
Phillip Cassey ◽  
Golo Maurer ◽  
Mark E. Hauber ◽  
Steven J. Portugal
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Carbonate Content ◽  
Ceramic Structure ◽  
Optimal Amount ◽  
Calcium Carbonate Content ◽  
The Individual

The avian eggshell is a bio-ceramic structure that protects the embryo. It is composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate and a small amount of organic material. An optimal amount of calcium carbonate in the eggshell is essential for the embryo's development, yet how the ratio of calcium carbonate to organic matter varies between species has not been investigated. Calcium is a limiting resource for most birds, so its investment in their eggs should be optimized for a bird's life history. We measured the relative calcium carbonate content of eggshells in 222 bird species and tested hypotheses for how this trait has evolved with the life-history strategies of these species and other traits of their respective egg physiologies. We found that (i) eggshell calcium carbonate content was positively correlated with species having thinner eggshells and smaller than expected eggs relative to incubating parental mass, (ii) species with small mean clutch sizes had lower calcium carbonate content in their eggshells, and (iii) for species with larger clutch sizes, eggshell calcium carbonate content was negatively correlated with their mean lifespan. The pattern of lower eggshell calcium carbonate in longer lived, larger clutched birds suggests that calcium provision to the eggshell has long-term costs for the individual.

scholarly journals Excess calorie intake early in life increases susceptibility to colitis in the adult

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziad Al Nabhani ◽  
Sophie Dulauroy ◽  
Emelyne Lécuyer ◽  
Bernadette Polomack ◽  
Marion Berard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Sulfide ◽  
Intestinal Permeability ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Production Of Hydrogen ◽  
Inflammatory Bowel ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Increased Susceptibility

ABSTRACTEpidemiological data report an association between obesity and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) 1–3. Furthermore, animal models demonstrate that maternal high fat diet (HFD) and maternal obesity increase susceptibility to IBD in the offsprings 4–8. However, the mechanisms that translate maternal obesity and HFD into increased susceptibility to IBD later in life remain unknown. Here we report that excess calorie intake by neonatal mice, as a consequence of maternal HFD, forced feeding of neonates or low litter competition, lead to an increase, during weaning, in intestinal permeability, expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and hydrogen sulfide production by the microbiota. In this context, intestinal permeability, cytokine expression and hydrogen sulfide engaged in a mutual positive feedback that imprinted increased susceptibility to colitis in the adult. This pathological imprinting was prevented by the neutralization of IFNγ and TNFα, of the production of hydrogen sulphide, or by normalization of intestinal permeability during weaning. Thus, excessive calorie intake by neonates leads to multiple causally-linked perturbations in the intestine that imprint the individual with long term susceptibility to IBD.

scholarly journals Reproductive ecology of short and long-term mating: implications for sexual selection and life history theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Mileta Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Reproductive Ecology ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Human Reproductive

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and fitness-related outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman’s third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N=398, Mage=31.03; Study 2: N=996, Mage=40.81, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman’s third principle. Observed age of first reproduction fully mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants. There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.

scholarly journals Love Styles in the Context of Life History Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-249
Author(s):  
Magdalena Marzec ◽  
Andrzej Łukasik
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Love Styles ◽  
Number Of Children

Abstract The evolutionary function of love is to create a strong bond between the partners with reproduction in view. In order to achieve this goal, humans use various sexual/reproductive strategies, which have evolved due to specific reproductive benefits. The use of particular strategies depends on many factors but one of the most important is early childhood experiences, on which life history theory (LHT) focuses. John Lee (1973) identified 6 basic love styles: eros, ludus, storge, pragma, agape, and mania. Our goal was to check whether love styles may be treated as sexual/reproductive strategies in the context of LHT - slow or fast strategy. In our study (N = 177) we found that people who prefer the slow reproductive strategy are inclined to show passionate, pragmatic and friendly love, and those who prefer the fast strategy, treated love as a game. A low level of environmental stress in childhood results in preferring eros, storge and agape love styles, belonging to the slow strategy, and a high one results in preferring ludus, which belongs to the fast strategy. People representing eros, storge or pragma styles have restricted sociosexual orientation so they prefer long-term relationships, whereas those with the ludus style are people with unrestricted orientation, preferring short-term relationships. Besides, storge, agape and pragma seem to determine preferring qualities connected with parental effort in one’s partner, mania - with mating effort, and eros - with both kinds of effort. No correlation was found between the love style and the number of children.

Variation in Women’s Mate Preferences Over the Development of a Monogamous Relationship Corresponds with Changes in Men’s Life History Strategy (Author's Accepted Version)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Owens ◽  
Helen Driscoll ◽  
Daniel Farrelly
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Monogamous Relationship ◽  
Parenting Effort ◽  
The Relationship

Much research has examined how men’s mating strategies change over the development of a relationship consistent with predictions from Life History Theory. Specifically, research shows both physiological and behavioural indicators of mating effort decrease once men are mated, and further once they become fathers, unless they remain engaged in mating effort. This switch from mating to parenting effort is sexually selected, and therefore the corresponding shifts in women should be examined, though to date, women’s short- or long-term mate preferences have been studied as separate entities rather than as a transition from short- to long- term. We examined how women’s mate preferences changed over the development of a relationship, to see if they varied consistently with what is known about variation in men’s mating effort. Vignettes detailed four key milestones in the development of a relationship and women rated the importance of the man at each stage displaying indicators of mating or parenting effort. Women increasingly prioritised indicators of parenting effort in men as the relationship developed, consistent with what is known about men’s reduction in mating effort in favour of parenting effort over the development of a relationship. The results support predictions from Life History Theory and highlight the interacting mutually reinforcing nature of sexually selected behaviours.

scholarly journals Does extrinsic mortality accelerate the pace of life? A bare-bones approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste André ◽  
François Rousset
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Reaction Norm ◽  
Variable Environment ◽  
Extrinsic Mortality ◽  
Pace Of Life ◽  
Bare Bones ◽  
Recent Claim ◽  
Made In

1AbstractIt is commonly asserted that when extrinsic mortality is high, individuals should invest early in reproduction. This intuition thrives in the literature on life-history theory and human behavior, yet it has been criticized repeatedly on the basis of mathematical models. The intuition is indeed wrong; but a recent theoretical criticism has confused the reason why it is wrong, thereby obscuring earlier and sounder criticisms. In the present article, based on the simplest possible model, we sought to clarify these issues. We confirm earlier findings that extrinsic mortality can affect the evolution of pace of life, not because it leaves little time to reproduce, but through its effects on density-dependent competition. This result highlights the importance of accounting for density-dependence in theoretical models and data analyses. Further, we find little support for the recent claim that the direction of selection on a reaction norm in a variable environment cannot be easily inferred from models made in homogeneous environments. In conclusion, although life-history theory is still imperfect, it has provided simple results that deserve to be understood.

Synthesizing life history theory with sexual selection: Toward a comprehensive model of alternative reproductive strategies

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenée James Jackson ◽  
Bruce J. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Strategies ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Intrasexual Competition ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Attachment Patterns ◽  
Specific Attachment ◽  
The Individual

AbstractDel Giudice's model of sex-specific attachment patterns demonstrates the usefulness of infusing life history theory with principles of sexual selection. We believe a full synthesis between the two theories provides a foundation for a comprehensive model of alternative reproductive strategies. We extend Del Giudice's ideas based on our own program of research, focusing specifically on the importance of intrasexual competition and the individual phenotype during development.

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