Animal life history is shaped by the pace of life and the distribution of age-specific mortality and reproduction
Kevin Healy,Kevin Healy,Kevin Healy,Thomas H. G. Ezard,Owen R. Jones,Roberto Salguero-Gómez,Yvonne M. Buckley +6 more
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Analysis of demographic data from 121 species shows that animal life history strategies vary across two axes of variation defined by the pace of life and the distribution of a species’ mortality and reproduction over their life course.Abstract:
Animals exhibit an extraordinary diversity of life history strategies. These realized combinations of survival, development and reproduction are predicted to be constrained by physiological limitations and by trade-offs in resource allocation. However, our understanding of these patterns is restricted to a few taxonomic groups. Using demographic data from 121 species, ranging from humans to sponges, we test whether such trade-offs universally shape animal life history strategies. We show that, after accounting for body mass and phylogenetic relatedness, 71% of the variation in animal life history strategies can be explained by life history traits associated with the fast-slow continuum (pace of life) and with a second axis defined by the distribution of age-specific mortality hazards and the spread of reproduction. While we found that life history strategies are associated with metabolic rate and ecological modes of life, surprisingly similar life history strategies can be found across the phylogenetic and physiological diversity of animals.read more
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References
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The evolution of life histories
TL;DR: In this article, age and size at maturity at maturity number and size of offspring Reproductive lifespan and ageing are discussed. But the authors focus on the effects of age and stage structure on fertility.
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Toward a metabolic theory of ecology
James H. Brown,James H. Brown,James F. Gillooly,Andrew P. Allen,Van M. Savage,Van M. Savage,Geoffrey B. West,Geoffrey B. West +7 more
TL;DR: This work has developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with body size and temperature, and predicts how metabolic theory predicts how this rate controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere.
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MCMC Methods for Multi-Response Generalized Linear Mixed Models: The MCMCglmm R Package
TL;DR: The R package MCMCglmm implements Markov chain Monte Carlo methods for generalized linear mixed models, which provide a flexible framework for modeling a range of data, although with non-Gaussian response variables the likelihood cannot be obtained in closed form.
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Pleiotropy, natural selection, and the evolution of senescence
TL;DR: August Weismann's theory is subject to a number of criticisms, the most forceful of which are: 1) The fallacy of identifying senescence with mechanical wear, 2) the extreme rarity, in natural populations, of individuals that would be old enough to die of the postulated death-mechanism, 3) the failure of several decades of gerontological research to uncover any deathmechanisms, and 4) the difficulties involved in visualizing how such a feature could be produced