Animal life history is shaped by the pace of life and the distribution of age-specific mortality and reproduction
Animals exhibit an extraordinary diversity of life history strategies. These realised combinations of survival, development, and reproduction are predicted to be constrained by physiological limitations and trade-offs in resource allocation. However, our understanding of these patterns is restricted...
| Published in: | Nature Ecology & Evolution |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432258/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432258/1/Healy_Main_manuscript_accepted_v.docx |
| Summary: | Animals exhibit an extraordinary diversity of life history strategies. These realised combinations of survival, development, and reproduction are predicted to be constrained by physiological limitations and trade-offs in resource allocation. However, our understanding of these patterns is restricted to a few taxonomic groups. Using demographic data from 121 species, ranging from humans to sponges, we test whether such trade-offs universally shape animal life history strategies. We show that, after accounting for body mass and phylogenetic relatedness, 71% of the variation in animal life history strategies can be explained by life history traits associated with both the fast-slow continuum and by a separate second axis defined by the distribution of age-specific mortality hazards and the spread of reproduction. While we found that life history strategies are associated with metabolic rate and ecological modes-of-life, surprisingly similar life history strategies can be found across the phylogenetic and physiological diversity of animals. The turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri, can complete its lifecycle in just 14 days1. In contrast, the Greenland shark only becomes sexual mature after 156 years2. Despite their differences, the evolution of both these life histories is underpinned by the same evolutionary principal of maximising fitness through differing rates of survival, development, and reproduction3. As these species demonstrate, different combinations of traits associated with fitness, known as life history traits4, can successfully maintain viable populations over evolutionary time. The range of variation in life history traits and how they combine into life history strategies across the animal Kingdom is vast. Hexactinellid sponges can live for millennia5 while Gastrotrichs can complete their life cycle within days6. Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) release thousands of eggs in a single reproductive event7, while Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) individuals are known to ... |
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