Environmental conditions shape the temporal pattern of investment in reproduction and survival.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between environmental stress exposure and ageing is likely to vary with stressor severity, life-history stage and the time scale over which effects are measured. Such factors could influence whether stress exposure accelerates or slows the ageing process, but their interactions have not previously been experimentally investigated. We found that experimental exposure of zebra finches to mildly challenging environmental circumstances from young to old adulthood, which increased exposure to stress hormones, reduced breeding performance during early adulthood, but had positive effects when individuals were bred in old adulthood. This difference was not due to selective mortality, because the effects were evident within individuals, and no evidence of habituation in the respons

SUBMITTER: Marasco V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5784202 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature