Testing the effect of early-life reproductive effort on age-related decline in a wild insect.

ABSTRACT: The disposable soma theory of ageing predicts that when organisms invest in reproduction they do so by reducing their investment in body maintenance, inducing a trade-off between reproduction and survival. Experiments on invertebrates in the lab provide support for the theory by demonstrating the predicted responses to manipulation of reproductive effort or lifespan. However, experimental studies in birds and evidence from observational (nonmanipulative) studies in nature do not consistently reveal trade-offs. Most species studied previously in the wild are mammals and birds that reproduce over multiple discrete seasons. This contrasts with temperate invertebrates, which typically have annual generations and reproduce over a single season. We expand the taxonomic range of senescence study

SUBMITTER: Rodriguez-Munoz R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6590129 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature