Do Early-Life Conditions Drive Variation in Senescence of Female Bighorn Sheep?

ABSTRACT: The rate of senescence may vary among individuals of a species according to individual life histories and environmental conditions. According to the principle of allocation, changes in mortality driven by environmental conditions influence how organisms allocate resources among costly functions. In several vertebrates, environmental conditions during early life impose trade-offs in allocation between early reproduction and maintenance. The effects of conditions experienced during early life on senescence, however, remain poorly documented in wild populations. We examined how several early-life environmental conditions affected reproductive and survival senescence in wild bighorn sheep. We found long-term effects of high population density at birth, precipitations during the winter before b

SUBMITTER: Pigeon G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8173223 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature