Spatio-temporal variation in lifelong telomere dynamics in a long-term ecological study.

ABSTRACT: Understanding individual-level variation in response to the environment is fundamental to understanding life-history evolution and population dynamics. Telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, shorten in response to oxidative stress, and telomere shortening is correlated with reduced survival and life span. Investigating telomere dynamics may help us quantify individual variation in the costs experienced from social and ecological factors, and enhance our understanding of the dynamics of natural populations. Here, we study spatio-temporal variation in lifelong telomere dynamics in the Seychelles warbler, Acrocephalus sechellensis. We combine long-term life history and ecological data with a large longitudinal dataset of mean telomere lengths, consisting of 1,808 samples f

SUBMITTER: Spurgin LG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5765431 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature