Senescence rates are determined by ranking on the fast–slow life-history continuum

Owen R. Jones (1) , Jean-Michel Gaillard (2) , Shripad Tuljapurkar (3) , Jussi S. Alho (4) , Kenneth B. Armitage (5) , Peter H. Becker (6) , Pierre Bize (7) , Jon Brommer (8) , A. Charmantier (9, 10) , Marie Charpentier (10, 11) , Tim Clutton-Brock (12) , F. Stephen Dobson (13) , Marco Festa-Bianchet (14) , Lars Gustafsson (15) , Henrik Jensen (16) , Carl G. Jones (17) , Bo-Göran Lillandt (4) , Robin Mc Cleery (9) , Juha Merilä (4) , Peter Neuhaus (18) , Malcolm A.C. Nicoll (19) , Ken Norris (19) , Madan K. Oli (20) , Josephine Pemberton (21) , Hannu Pietiäinen (8) , Thor Harald Ringsby (16) , Alexandre Roulin (22) , Bernt-Erik Saether (23) , Joanna M. Setchell (11, 24) , Ben C. Sheldon (9) , Paul M. Thompson (25) , Henri Weimerskirch (26) , E. Jean Wickings (11) , Tim Coulson (1)

1 Division of Biology and Centre for Population Biology
2 Biodémographie évolutive
3 Department of Biology [Stanford]
4 Ecological Genetics Research Unit
5 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
6 Institut fuer Vogelforschung
7 Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology
8 Division of Population Biology
9 Department of zoology
10 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
11 Unité de Génétique des Ecosystèmes Tropicaux
12 Department of Zoology
13 Department of Zoology
14 UdeS - Département de biologie [Sherbrooke]
15 Division of Animal Ecology
16 Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics
17 Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
18 Institute of Zoology
19 Centre for Agri-Environment Research (CAER)
20 Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
21 Institute of Evolutionary Biology
22 DEE - Department of Ecology and Evolution [UNIL, Lausanne] = Département d'écologie et évolution
23 IBI NTNU - Department of Biology [Trondheim]
24 Department of Biological Anthropology
25 School of Biological Sciences
26 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé

Comparative analyses of survival senescence by using life tables have identified generalizations including the observation that mammals senesce faster than similar-sized birds. These generalizations have been challenged because of limitations of life-table approaches and the growing appreciation that senescence is more than an increasing probability of death. Without using life tables, we examine senescence rates in annual individual fitness using 20 individual-based data sets of terrestrial vertebrates with contrasting life histories and body size.Wefind that senescence is widespread in the wild and equally likely to occur in survival and reproduction. Additionally, mammals senesce faster than birds because they have a faster life history for a given body size. By allowing us to disentangle the effects of two major fitness components our methods allow an assessment of the robustness of the prevalent life-table approach. Focusing on one aspect of life history – survival or recruitment – can provide reliable information on overall senescence.

Mots clés: Aging; comparative analysis; demography; generation time; metabolic rate; senescence

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie; Environnement et Société; Milieux et Changements globaux

Owen R. Jones, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Shripad Tuljapurkar, Jussi S. Alho, Kenneth B. Armitage, et al.. Senescence rates are determined by ranking on the fast–slow life-history continuum. Ecology Letters, 2008, 11 (7), pp.664-673. ⟨10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01187.x⟩. ⟨hal-00318567⟩