Early-life conditions impact juvenile telomere length, but do not predict later life-history strategies or fitness in a wild vertebrate.

ABSTRACT: Environmental conditions experienced during early life may have long-lasting effects on later-life phenotypes and fitness. Individuals experiencing poor early-life conditions may suffer subsequent fitness constraints. Alternatively, individuals may use a strategic "Predictive Adaptive Response" (PAR), whereby they respond-in terms of physiology or life-history strategy-to the conditions experienced in early life to maximize later-life fitness. Particularly, the Future Lifespan Expectation (FLE) PAR hypothesis predicts that when poor early-life conditions negatively impact an individual's physiological state, it will accelerate its reproductive schedule to maximize fitness during its shorter predicted life span. We aimed to measure the impact of early-life conditions and resulting fitness a

SUBMITTER: van de Crommenacker J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9207752 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature