Meta-analysis shows no consistent evidence for senescence in ejaculate traits across animals.

ABSTRACT: Male reproductive traits such as ejaculate size and quality, are expected to decline with advancing age due to senescence. It is however unclear whether this expectation is upheld across taxa. We perform a meta-analysis on 379 studies, to quantify the effects of advancing male age on ejaculate traits across 157 species of non-human animals. Contrary to predictions, we find no consistent pattern of age-dependent changes in ejaculate traits. This result partly reflects methodological limitations, such as studies sampling a low proportion of adult lifespan, or the inability of meta-analytical approaches to document non-linear ageing trajectories of ejaculate traits; which could potentially lead to an underestimation of senescence. Yet, we find taxon-specific differences in patterns of ejacula

SUBMITTER: Sanghvi K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10791739 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature