Food availability affects adult survival trajectories depending on early developmental conditions.

ABSTRACT: Food availability modulates survival in interaction with (for example) competition, disease and predators, but to what extent food availability in natural populations affects survival independent of these factors is not well known. We tested the effect of food availability on lifespan and actuarial senescence in a large population of captive zebra finches by increasing the effort required to obtain food, reflecting natural contrasts in food availability. Food availability may not affect all individuals equally and we therefore created heterogeneity in phenotypic quality by raising birds with different numbers of siblings. Low food availability had no effect on lifespan for individuals from benign developmental conditions (raised in small broods), but shortened lifespan for individuals from

SUBMITTER: Briga M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5247499 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature