1
|
Yuen T, Ruckstuhl KE, Martinig AR, Neuhaus P. Born with an advantage: early life and maternal effects on fitness in female ground squirrels. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae013. [PMID: 38486921 PMCID: PMC10939052 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Lifetime fitness and its determinants are an important topic in the study of behavioral ecology and life-history evolution. Early life conditions comprise some of these determinants, warranting further investigation into their impact. In some mammals, babies born lighter tend to have lower life expectancy than those born heavier, and some of these life-history traits are passed on to offspring, with lighter-born females giving birth to lighter offspring. We investigated how weight at weaning, the relative timing of birth in the season, maternal weight, and maternal age affected the longevity and lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of female Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus). We hypothesized that early life conditions such as offspring weight would not only have lifetime fitness consequences but also intergenerational effects. We found that weight at weaning had a significant impact on longevity, with heavier individuals living longer. The relative timing of an individual's birth did not have a significant association with either longevity or LRS. Individuals born to heavier mothers were found to have significantly higher LRS than those born to lighter mothers. Finally, maternal age was found to be significantly associated with their offspring's LRS, with older mothers having less successful offspring. Our results provide evidence that early life conditions do have lifelong fitness and sometimes intergenerational consequences for Columbian ground squirrels.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tanner Yuen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4Canada
| | - Kathreen E Ruckstuhl
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4Canada
- Zoology Department, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - April R Martinig
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4Canada
- Evolution & Ecology Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, 12 UNSW, Sydney, Australia
| | - Peter Neuhaus
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4Canada
- Zoology Department, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ Cambridgeshire, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Aguilar P, Dag B, Carazo P, Sultanova Z. Sex-specific paternal age effects on offspring quality in Drosophila melanogaster. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:720-729. [PMID: 36946550 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Advanced paternal age has been repeatedly shown to modulate offspring quality via male- and/or female-driven processes, and there are theoretical reasons to expect that some of these effects can be sex-specific. For example, sex allocation theory predicts that, when mated with low-condition males, mothers should invest more in their daughters compared to their sons. This is because male fitness is generally more condition-dependent and more variable than female fitness, which makes it less risky to invest in female offspring. Here, we explore whether paternal age can affect the quality and quantity of offspring in a sex-specific way using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. In order to understand the contribution of male-driven processes on paternal age effects, we also measured the seminal vesicle size of young and older males and explored its relationship with reproductive success and offspring quality. Older males had lower competitive reproductive success, as expected, but there was no difference between the offspring sex ratio of young and older males. However, we found that paternal age caused an increase in offspring quality (i.e., offspring weight), and that this increase was more marked in daughters than sons. We discuss different male- and female-driven processes that may explain such sex-specific paternal age effects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Prem Aguilar
- CIBIO Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Berfin Dag
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Pau Carazo
- Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Valencia, Spain
| | - Zahida Sultanova
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Chmilar SL, Laird RA. Effects of parental age on salt stress tolerance in an aquatic plant. OIKOS 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert A. Laird
- Dept of Biological Sciences, Univ. of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB Canada
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Martine P, Aude A. Parental age at conception on mouse lemur's offspring longevity: Sex-specific maternal effects. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265783. [PMID: 36580457 PMCID: PMC9799291 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Parental age at conception often influences offspring's longevity, a phenomenon referred as the "Lansing effect" described in large variety of organisms. But, the majority of the results refer to the survival of juveniles, mainly explained by an inadequate parental care by the elderly parents, mostly the mothers. Studies on the effect of parental age on offspring's longevity in adulthood remain few, except in humans for whom effects of parental age vary according to statistical models or socioeconomic environments. In a small primate in which the longevity reaches up to 13 years, we investigated the effects of parental age at conception on the longevity of offspring (N = 278) issued from parents with known longevity. None of the postnatal parameters (body mass at 30 and 60 days after birth, size and composition of the litter) influenced offspring's longevity. Mothers' age at conception negatively affected offspring's longevity in males but not in females. By contrast, fathers' age at conception did not influence offspring's longevity. Finally, the longevity of female offspring was significantly positively related to the longevity of both parents. Compared with current studies, the surprisingly minor effect of fathers 'age was related to the high seasonal reproduction and the particular telomere biology of mouse lemurs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Perret Martine
- UMR 7179, Adaptive mechanisms and Evolution, MECADEV, Brunoy, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Anzeraey Aude
- UMR 7179, Adaptive mechanisms and Evolution, MECADEV, Brunoy, France
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Anderson CE, Malek MC, Jonas-Closs RA, Cho Y, Peshkin L, Kirschner MW, Yampolsky LY. Inverse Lansing Effect: Maternal Age and Provisioning Affecting Daughters' Longevity and Male Offspring Production. Am Nat 2022; 200:704-721. [PMID: 36260845 DOI: 10.1086/721148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
AbstractMaternal age effects on offspring life history are known in a variety of organisms, with offspring of older mothers typically having lower life expectancy (the Lansing effect). However, there is no consensus on the generality and mechanisms of this pattern. We tested predictions of the Lansing effect in several Daphnia magna clones and observed clone-specific magnitude and direction of the maternal age effect on offspring longevity. We also report ambidirectional, genotype-specific effects of maternal age on the propensity of daughters to produce male offspring. Focusing on two clones with contrasting life histories, we demonstrate that maternal age effects can be explained by lipid provisioning of embryos by mothers of different ages. Individuals from a single-generation maternal age reversal treatment showed intermediate life span and intermediate lipid content at birth. In the clone characterized by the "inverse Lansing effect," neonates produced by older mothers showed higher mitochondrial membrane potential in neural tissues than their counterparts born to younger mothers. We conclude that an inverse Lansing effect is possible and hypothesize that it may be caused by age-specific maternal lipid provisioning creating a calorically restricted environment during embryonic development, which in turn reduces fecundity and increases life span in offspring.
Collapse
|
6
|
Sharman P, Young AJ, Wilson AJ. Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220691. [PMID: 36249332 DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18m0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Effects of parental age on offspring viability have been reported in a wide range of species. However, to what extent parental age influences offspring traits beyond viability remains unclear. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on maternal age effects. The purpose of this study was to test for paternal and maternal age effects on offspring speed in thoroughbred racehorses. We analysed over 900 000 race performances by over 100 000 horses on British racecourses between 1996 and 2019. With knowledge of the age of all 41 107 dams and 2 887 sires at offspring conception, we jointly modelled maternal and paternal age effects using a 'within-individual centring' approach. Within-parents, we identified a significant effect of maternal age on offspring speed of -0.017 yards s-1 yr-1 and a corresponding paternal age effect of -0.011 yards s-1 yr-1. Although maternal age effects were stronger (more negative), the existence and magnitude of paternal effects is particularly noteworthy, given thoroughbred sires have no involvement in parental care. Our results also suggest that the selective disappearance of both sires and dams is ongoing. These findings could potentially be used to optimize thoroughbred racehorse breeding decisions, and more generally, add to the increasing body of evidence that both maternal and paternal age affect a range of offspring characteristics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Sharman
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Andrew J Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Alastair J Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Sharman P, Young AJ, Wilson AJ. Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220691. [PMID: 36249332 PMCID: PMC9532991 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Effects of parental age on offspring viability have been reported in a wide range of species. However, to what extent parental age influences offspring traits beyond viability remains unclear. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on maternal age effects. The purpose of this study was to test for paternal and maternal age effects on offspring speed in thoroughbred racehorses. We analysed over 900 000 race performances by over 100 000 horses on British racecourses between 1996 and 2019. With knowledge of the age of all 41 107 dams and 2 887 sires at offspring conception, we jointly modelled maternal and paternal age effects using a 'within-individual centring' approach. Within-parents, we identified a significant effect of maternal age on offspring speed of -0.017 yards s-1 yr-1 and a corresponding paternal age effect of -0.011 yards s-1 yr-1. Although maternal age effects were stronger (more negative), the existence and magnitude of paternal effects is particularly noteworthy, given thoroughbred sires have no involvement in parental care. Our results also suggest that the selective disappearance of both sires and dams is ongoing. These findings could potentially be used to optimize thoroughbred racehorse breeding decisions, and more generally, add to the increasing body of evidence that both maternal and paternal age affect a range of offspring characteristics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Sharman
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Andrew J. Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Alastair J. Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Sharman P, Young AJ, Wilson AJ. Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220691. [PMID: 36249332 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6228607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Effects of parental age on offspring viability have been reported in a wide range of species. However, to what extent parental age influences offspring traits beyond viability remains unclear. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on maternal age effects. The purpose of this study was to test for paternal and maternal age effects on offspring speed in thoroughbred racehorses. We analysed over 900 000 race performances by over 100 000 horses on British racecourses between 1996 and 2019. With knowledge of the age of all 41 107 dams and 2 887 sires at offspring conception, we jointly modelled maternal and paternal age effects using a 'within-individual centring' approach. Within-parents, we identified a significant effect of maternal age on offspring speed of -0.017 yards s-1 yr-1 and a corresponding paternal age effect of -0.011 yards s-1 yr-1. Although maternal age effects were stronger (more negative), the existence and magnitude of paternal effects is particularly noteworthy, given thoroughbred sires have no involvement in parental care. Our results also suggest that the selective disappearance of both sires and dams is ongoing. These findings could potentially be used to optimize thoroughbred racehorse breeding decisions, and more generally, add to the increasing body of evidence that both maternal and paternal age affect a range of offspring characteristics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Sharman
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Andrew J Young
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Alastair J Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Campos FA, Altmann J, Cords M, Fedigan LM, Lawler R, Lonsdorf EV, Stoinski TS, Strier KB, Bronikowski AM, Pusey AE, Alberts SC. Female reproductive aging in seven primate species: Patterns and consequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2117669119. [PMID: 35533284 PMCID: PMC9171789 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2117669119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Age-related changes in fertility have increasingly been documented in wild animal populations: In many species the youngest and oldest reproducers are disadvantaged relative to prime adults. How do these effects evolve, and what explains their diversity across species? Tackling this question requires detailed data on patterns of age-related reproductive performance in multiple animal species. Here, we compare patterns and consequences of age-related changes in female reproductive performance in seven primate populations that have been subjects of long-term continuous study for 29 to 57 y. We document evidence of age effects on fertility and on offspring performance in most, but not all, of these primate species. Specifically, females of six species showed longer interbirth intervals in the oldest age classes, youngest age classes, or both, and the oldest females also showed relatively fewer completed interbirth intervals. In addition, five species showed markedly lower survival among offspring born to the oldest mothers, and two species showed reduced survival for offspring born to both the youngest and the oldest mothers. In contrast, we found mixed evidence that maternal age affects the age at which daughters first reproduce: Only in muriquis and to some extent in chimpanzees, the only two species with female-biased dispersal, did relatively young mothers produce daughters that tended to have earlier first reproduction. Our findings demonstrate shared patterns as well as contrasts in age-related changes in female fertility across species of nonhuman primates and highlight species-specific behavior and life-history patterns as possible explanations for species-level differences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando A. Campos
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249
| | - Jeanne Altmann
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
| | - Marina Cords
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Linda M. Fedigan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Richard Lawler
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807
| | | | | | - Karen B. Strier
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706
| | - Anne M. Bronikowski
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011
| | - Anne E. Pusey
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
| | - Susan C. Alberts
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
van Daalen SF, Hernández CM, Caswell H, Neubert MG, Gribble KE. The Contributions of Maternal Age Heterogeneity to Variance in Lifetime Reproductive Output. Am Nat 2022; 199:603-616. [PMID: 35472026 DOI: 10.1086/718716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
AbstractVariance among individuals in fitness components reflects both genuine heterogeneity between individuals and stochasticity in events experienced along the life cycle. Maternal age represents a form of heterogeneity that affects both the mean and the variance of lifetime reproductive output (LRO). Here, we quantify the relative contribution of maternal age heterogeneity to the variance in LRO using individual-level laboratory data on the rotifer Brachionus manjavacas to parameterize a multistate age × maternal age matrix model. In B. manjavacas, advanced maternal age has large negative effects on offspring survival and fertility. We used multistate Markov chains with rewards to quantify the contributions to variance in LRO of heterogeneity and of the stochasticity inherent in the outcomes of probabilistic transitions and reproductive events. Under laboratory conditions, maternal age heterogeneity contributes 26% of the variance in LRO. The contribution changes when mortality and fertility are reduced to mimic more ecologically relevant environments. Over the parameter space where populations are near stationarity, maternal age heterogeneity contributes an average of 3% of the variance. Thus, the contributions of maternal age heterogeneity and individual stochasticity can be expected to depend strongly on environmental conditions; over most of the parameter space, the variance in LRO is dominated by stochasticity.
Collapse
|
11
|
OUP accepted manuscript. Hum Reprod 2022; 37:1896-1906. [DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deac086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
|
12
|
Angell CS, Janacek R, Rundle HD. Maternal and paternal age effects on male antler flies: a field experiment. Am Nat 2021; 199:436-442. [DOI: 10.1086/718236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
13
|
Fay R, Authier M, Hamel S, Jenouvrier S, Pol M, Cam E, Gaillard J, Yoccoz NG, Acker P, Allen A, Aubry LM, Bonenfant C, Caswell H, Coste CFD, Larue B, Le Coeur C, Gamelon M, Macdonald KR, Moiron M, Nicol‐Harper A, Pelletier F, Rotella JJ, Teplitsky C, Touzot L, Wells CP, Sæther B. Quantifying fixed individual heterogeneity in demographic parameters: Performance of correlated random effects for Bernoulli variables. Methods Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Fay
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
| | - Matthieu Authier
- Observatoire PELAGIS UMS‐CNRS 3462Université de la Rochelle La Rochelle France
| | - Sandra Hamel
- Département de biologie Université Laval Québec City QC Canada
| | - Stéphanie Jenouvrier
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Villiers en Bois France
- Biology Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USA
| | - Martijn Pol
- Department of Animal Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW) Wageningen the Netherlands
- College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Townsville Qld Australia
| | | | - Jean‐Michel Gaillard
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive CNRSUnité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5558Université Lyon 1Université de Lyon Villeurbanne France
| | - Nigel G. Yoccoz
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology UiT The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway
| | - Paul Acker
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
| | - Andrew Allen
- Department of Animal Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW) Wageningen the Netherlands
| | - Lise M. Aubry
- Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Department Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA
| | - Christophe Bonenfant
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive CNRSUnité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5558Université Lyon 1Université de Lyon Villeurbanne France
| | - Hal Caswell
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Christophe F. D. Coste
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
| | - Benjamin Larue
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Christie Le Coeur
- Department of Biosciences Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) University of Oslo Oslo Norway
| | - Marlène Gamelon
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive CNRSUnité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5558Université Lyon 1Université de Lyon Villeurbanne France
| | | | - Maria Moiron
- CEFE Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD Montpellier France
| | - Alex Nicol‐Harper
- Biology Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USA
- School of Ocean and Earth Science National Oceanography Centre University of Southampton Waterfront Campus Southampton UK
| | - Fanie Pelletier
- Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Jay J. Rotella
- Department of Ecology Montana State University Bozeman MT USA
| | | | - Laura Touzot
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive CNRSUnité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 5558Université Lyon 1Université de Lyon Villeurbanne France
| | - Caitlin P. Wells
- Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Department Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA
| | - Bernt‐Erik Sæther
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Travers LM, Carlsson H, Lind MI, Maklakov AA. Beneficial cumulative effects of old parental age on offspring fitness. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211843. [PMID: 34641727 PMCID: PMC8511764 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Old parental age is commonly associated with negative effects on offspring life-history traits. Such parental senescence effects are predicted to have a cumulative detrimental effect over successive generations. However, old parents may benefit from producing higher quality offspring when these compete for seasonal resources. Thus, old parents may choose to increase investment in their offspring, thereby producing fewer but larger and more competitive progeny. We show that Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites increase parental investment with advancing age, resulting in fitter offspring who reach their reproductive peak earlier. Remarkably, these effects increased over six successive generations of breeding from old parents and were subsequently reversed following a single generation of breeding from a young parent. Our findings support the hypothesis that offspring of old parents receive more resources and convert them into increasingly faster life histories. These results contradict the theory that old parents transfer a cumulative detrimental 'ageing factor' to their offspring.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Travers
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Hanne Carlsson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Martin I Lind
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Alexei A Maklakov
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Basso O, Willis SK, Hatch EE, Mikkelsen EM, Rothman KJ, Wise LA. Maternal age at birth and daughter's fecundability. Hum Reprod 2021; 36:1970-1980. [PMID: 33860312 PMCID: PMC8213449 DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deab057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Revised: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION Do daughters of older mothers have lower fecundability? SUMMARY ANSWER In this cohort study of North American pregnancy planners, there was virtually no association between maternal age ≥35 years and daughters' fecundability. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Despite suggestive evidence that daughters of older mothers may have lower fertility, only three retrospective studies have examined the association between maternal age and daughter's fecundability. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Prospective cohort study of 6689 pregnancy planners enrolled between March 2016 and January 2020. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO) is an ongoing pre-conception cohort study of pregnancy planners (age, 21-45 years) from the USA and Canada. We estimated fecundability ratios (FR) for maternal age at the participant's birth using multivariable proportional probabilities regression models. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Daughters of mothers ≥30 years were less likely to have previous pregnancies (or pregnancy attempts) or risk factors for infertility, although they were more likely to report that their mother had experienced problems conceiving. The proportion of participants with prior unplanned pregnancies, a birth before age 21, ≥3 cycles of attempt at study entry or no follow-up was greater among daughters of mothers <25 years. Compared with maternal age 25-29 years, FRs (95% CI) for maternal age <20, 20-24, 30-34, and ≥35 were 0.72 (0.61, 0.84), 0.92 (0.85, 1.00), 1.08 (1.00, 1.17), and 1.00 (0.89, 1.12), respectively. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Although the examined covariates did not meaningfully affect the associations, we had limited information on the participants' mother. Differences by maternal age in reproductive history, infertility risk factors and loss to follow-up suggest that selection bias may partly explain our results. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS Our finding that maternal age 35 years or older was not associated with daughter's fecundability is reassuring, considering the trend towards delayed childbirth. However, having been born to a young mother may be a marker of low fecundability among pregnancy planners. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) PRESTO was funded by NICHD Grants (R21-HD072326 and R01-HD086742) and has received in-kind donations from Swiss Precision Diagnostics, FertilityFriend.com, Kindara.com, and Sandstone Diagnostics. Dr Wise is a fibroid consultant for AbbVie, Inc. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER n/a.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Olga Basso
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC H3A 1A2, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Sydney K Willis
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elizabeth E Hatch
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ellen M Mikkelsen
- Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Kenneth J Rothman
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Lauren A Wise
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Cholewa M, Jankowiak Ł, Szenejko M, Dybus A, Śmietana P, Wysocki D. The effects of parental age difference on the offspring sex and fitness of European blackbirds. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10858. [PMID: 33828905 PMCID: PMC7996069 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Many studies of birds have indicated that offspring sex ratios can vary with environmental and parental traits. On the basis of long-term research, we first evaluated the possible influence of parental age difference and brood characteristics on offspring sex and fitness in multi-brooded Blackbirds Turdus merula. Methodology The study was conducted in the city-centre Stefan Żeromski Park in Szczecin, NW Poland, where the local population of Blackbirds has been studied since 1996. Data on the offspring sex and fitness were collected in five years, 2005-2007 and 2016-2017. During the breeding season we inspected the study area to locate the pairs' territories and to track their nests and clutches. Results We found that the overall sex ratio did not differ statistically from 50:50, but that younger females bonded with older mates did tend to produce more sons, probably because of the greater fitness of male descendants. Accordingly, the sons' breeding success increased with the father's age, but this relationship was close to non-linear, which may indicate that the transgenerational effect of paternal senescence could negatively affect progeny fitness despite the high-quality of older fathers. Older females mated with younger males produced more daughters, which could have been due to the lesser attractiveness of the males and the mothers' poorer condition caused by accelerated senescence. We found that neither offspring hatching sequence nor hatching date or clutch sequence were significant for sex determination. Conclusions We consider that in our Blackbird population, parental age could make a more significant contribution to shaping offspring sex and reproductive success.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Cholewa
- Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
| | | | - Magdalena Szenejko
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland.,Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Centre, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
| | - Andrzej Dybus
- Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biotechnology and Animal Husbandry, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland
| | - Przemysław Śmietana
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
| | - Dariusz Wysocki
- Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Vuarin P, Lesobre L, Levêque G, Saint Jalme M, Lacroix F, Hingrat Y, Sorci G. Paternal age negatively affects sperm production of the progeny. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:719-727. [PMID: 33565248 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Parental age has profound consequences for offspring's phenotype. However, whether patrilineal age affects offspring sperm production remains unknown, despite the importance of sperm production for male reproductive success in species facing post-copulatory sexual selection. Using a longitudinal dataset on ejaculate attributes of the houbara bustard, we showed that offspring sired by old fathers had different age-dependent trajectories of sperm production compared to offspring sired by young fathers. Specifically, they produced less sperm (-48%) in their first year of life, and 14% less during their lifetime. Paternal age had the strongest effect, with weak evidence for grandpaternal or great grandpaternal age effects. These results show that paternal age can affect offspring reproductive success by reducing sperm production, establishing an intergenerational link between ageing and sexual selection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pauline Vuarin
- Reneco International Wildlife Consultants LLC, Abu Dhabi, PoBox 61741, United Arab Emirates.,Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 boulevard Gabriel, Dijon, 21000, France
| | - Loïc Lesobre
- Reneco International Wildlife Consultants LLC, Abu Dhabi, PoBox 61741, United Arab Emirates
| | - Gwènaëlle Levêque
- Emirates Center for Wildlife Propagation, BP 47, route de Midelt, Missour, 33250, Morocco
| | - Michel Saint Jalme
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN CNRS-UPMC, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 43 et 61 rue Buffon, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Frédéric Lacroix
- Reneco International Wildlife Consultants LLC, Abu Dhabi, PoBox 61741, United Arab Emirates
| | - Yves Hingrat
- Reneco International Wildlife Consultants LLC, Abu Dhabi, PoBox 61741, United Arab Emirates
| | - Gabriele Sorci
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 boulevard Gabriel, Dijon, 21000, France
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Cooper EB, Bonnet T, Osmond HL, Cockburn A, Kruuk LEB. Aging and Senescence across Reproductive Traits and Survival in Superb Fairy-Wrens ( Malurus cyaneus). Am Nat 2020; 197:111-127. [PMID: 33417527 DOI: 10.1086/711755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWhy do senescence rates of fitness-related traits often vary dramatically? By considering the full aging trajectories of multiple traits, we can better understand how a species' life history shapes the evolution of senescence within a population. Here, we examined age-related changes in sex-specific survival, reproduction, and several components of reproduction using a long-term study of a cooperatively breeding songbird, the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus). We compared aging patterns between traits by estimating standardized rates of maturation, age of onset of senescence, and rates of senescence while controlling for confounding factors reflecting individual variability in life history. We found striking differences in aging and senescence patterns between survival and reproduction as well as between reproductive traits. In both sexes, survival started to decline from maturity onward. In contrast, all reproductive traits showed improvements into early adulthood, and many showed little or no evidence of senescence. In females, despite senescence in clutch size, number of offspring surviving to independence did not decline in late life, possibly due to improvements in maternal care with age. Superb fairy-wrens have exceptionally high levels of extragroup paternity, and while male within-group reproductive success did not change with age, extragroup reproductive success showed a dramatic increase in early ages, followed by a senescent decline, suggesting that male reproductive aging is driven by sexual selection. We discuss how the superb fairy-wrens' complex life history may contribute to the disparate aging patterns across different traits.
Collapse
|
19
|
Monaghan P, Maklakov AA, Metcalfe NB. Intergenerational Transfer of Ageing: Parental Age and Offspring Lifespan. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:927-937. [PMID: 32741650 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Revised: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The extent to which the age of parents at reproduction can affect offspring lifespan and other fitness-related traits is important in our understanding of the selective forces shaping life history evolution. In this article, the widely reported negative effects of parental age on offspring lifespan (the 'Lansing effect') is examined. Outlined herein are the potential routes whereby a Lansing effect can occur, whether effects might accumulate across multiple generations, and how the Lansing effect should be viewed as part of a broader framework, considering how parental age affects offspring fitness. The robustness of the evidence for a Lansing effect produced so far, potential confounding variables, and how the underlying mechanisms might best be unravelled through carefully designed experimental studies are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pat Monaghan
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, MVLS, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
| | - Alexei A Maklakov
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Neil B Metcalfe
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, MVLS, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Religion and fertility patterns: comparison of life history traits in Catholics and Protestants, Hallstatt (Austria) 1733-1908. J Biosoc Sci 2020; 53:305-318. [PMID: 32513321 DOI: 10.1017/s0021932020000243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Catholicism and Protestantism have different ways of promoting the family unit that could influence survival and fertility at a population level. Parish records in the Austrian village of Hallstatt allowed the reconstruction of Catholic and Protestant genealogies over a period of 175 years (1733-1908) to evaluate how religion and social changes affected reproduction and survival. Life history traits such as lifespan beyond 15 years, number of offspring, reproductive span, children born out of wedlock and child mortality were estimated in 5678 Catholic and 3282 Protestant individuals. The interaction of sex, time and religion was checked through non-parametric factorial ANOVAs. Religion and time showed statistically significant interactions with lifespan >15 years, number of offspring and age at birth of first child. Protestants lived longer, had a larger reproductive span and an earlier age at birth of first child. Before the famine crisis of 1845-1850, Protestants showed lower values of childhood mortality than Catholics. Comparison of the number of children born out of wedlock revealed small differences between the two religions. Religion influenced reproduction and survival, as significant differences were found between Catholics and Protestants. This influence could be explained in part by differential socioeconomic characteristics, since Protestants may have enjoyed better living and sanitary conditions in Hallstatt.
Collapse
|
21
|
Bründl AC, Tkaczynski PJ, Nohon Kohou G, Boesch C, Wittig RM, Crockford C. Systematic mapping of developmental milestones in wild chimpanzees. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e12988. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Aisha C. Bründl
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany
- Department of Neuropsychology Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Patrick J. Tkaczynski
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Grégoire Nohon Kohou
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
- Department of Primatology Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany
| | - Roman M. Wittig
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
- Department of Primatology Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
|
23
|
Reichert S, Berger V, Jackson J, Chapman SN, Htut W, Mar KU, Lummaa V. Maternal age at birth shapes offspring life-history trajectory across generations in long-lived Asian elephants. J Anim Ecol 2020; 89:996-1007. [PMID: 31222736 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 04/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Advanced maternal age at birth can have pronounced consequences for offspring health, survival and reproduction. If carried over to the next generation, such fitness effects could have important implications for population dynamics and the evolution of ageing, but these remain poorly understood. While many laboratory studies have investigated maternal age effects, relatively few studies have been conducted in natural populations, and they usually only present a "snapshot" of an offspring's lifetime. In the present study, we focus on how maternal age influences offspring life-history trajectories and performance in a long-lived mammal. We use a multigenerational demographic dataset of semi-captive Asian elephants to investigate maternal age effects on several offspring life-history traits: condition, reproductive success and overall survival. We show that offspring born to older mothers display reduced overall survival but higher reproductive success, and reduced survival of their own progeny. Our results show evidence of a persistent effect of maternal age on fitness across generations in a long-lived mammal. By highlighting transgenerational effects on the fitness of the next generation associated with maternal age, the present study helps increase our understanding of factors contributing to individual variation in ageing rates and fitness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Reichert
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Vérane Berger
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - John Jackson
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Win Htut
- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Myanma Timber Enterprise, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Khyne U Mar
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Virpi Lummaa
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Péron G, Bonenfant C, Lemaitre JF, Ronget V, Tidiere M, Gaillard JM. Does grandparental care select for a longer lifespan in non-human mammals? Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Several non-human mammalian species provide grandparental care but remain fertile until death, unlike our species. This might call into question the ‘grandmother hypothesis’ that the ability to provide grandparental care, associated with an increase in the cost of breeding with age, promote the early cessation of reproduction. Here, we analyse individual longevity records from non-human mammals to determine whether the few species with grandparental care also stand out among mammals in terms of age-specific survival patterns. Indeed, females of species with grandparental care lived on average 43% longer than males (range: 24–61%), compared with 12% in other polygynous species (95% quantile: −8 to 30%), because of low baseline mortality rates and delayed onset of actuarial senescence. We discuss this finding with respect to the ‘stopping early’ vs. ‘living longer’ debate. We review the role of the environmental context and of the decrease in offspring performance with maternal age (Lansing effect). We formalize the idea of a continuum of parental–grandparental allocation instead of a discrete switch to grandparental care only. Lastly, we suggest that the evolution of menopause has been driven by different forces in different species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Christophe Bonenfant
- Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jean-François Lemaitre
- Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Victor Ronget
- Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Morgane Tidiere
- Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jean-Michel Gaillard
- Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Villeurbanne, France
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Rapaport T, Villaseñor FA, Altman RM, Nepomnaschy PA. Sex ratio and maternal age in a natural fertility, subsistence population: Daughters, sons, daughters. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2019; 169:368-376. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tomas Rapaport
- Maternal and Child Health Laboratory, Faculty of Health SciencesSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Fernando A. Villaseñor
- Maternal and Child Health Laboratory, Faculty of Health SciencesSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
- Department of Statistics and Actuarial ScienceSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Rachel M. Altman
- Department of Statistics and Actuarial ScienceSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Pablo A. Nepomnaschy
- Maternal and Child Health Laboratory, Faculty of Health SciencesSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
- Crawford Laboratory of Evolutionary StudiesSimon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Basso O, Weinberg CR, D'Aloisio AA, Sandler DP. Maternal age at birth and daughters' subsequent childlessness. Hum Reprod 2019; 33:311-319. [PMID: 29211842 DOI: 10.1093/humrep/dex350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 11/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION Does maternal age at a daughter's birth predict her subsequent probability of lifelong childlessness? SUMMARY ANSWER In this study population, women born to older mothers were more likely to be childless. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Although maternal age at childbearing is increasing in many countries, there is limited evidence on whether being born to older parents may influence offspring fertility. STUDY DESIGN SIZE AND DURATION This analysis included 43 135 women from the US-based Sister Study, a cohort study of 50 884 sisters of women with breast cancer recruited between 2003 and 2009. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Participants had no breast cancer at baseline. Women were included in the analytic sample if they were born between 1930 and 1964 and were at least 44 years old at enrolment. Median age when reproductive history was last ascertained was 63.8 years. We estimated relative risks (RR) and 95% CI of lifelong childlessness as a function of maternal age at birth, using multivariable log-binomial models, including total number of siblings, birth order, socioeconomic indicators of the family of origin, race and birth cohort. We examined the association in different subgroups and in a sibling-matched analysis including 802 sister pairs discordant for childlessness. MAIN RESULTS AND ROLE OF CHANCE Compared with women born to 20-24-year-old mothers, those born to mothers aged 25-29, 30-34 and ≥35 years were more likely to be childless [RR (95% CI): 1.21 (1.14-1.29), 1.30 (1.22-1.39) and 1.40 (1.31-1.50), respectively]. The association was consistent in strata defined by birth cohort, number of siblings, birth order, and participant's educational level, as well as within sister pairs. Overall, we found weak evidence for an independent contribution of paternal age at birth to the daughter's probability of childlessness. LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION All participants had at least one sister, and all information was self-reported. We had no knowledge of whether childlessness was intentional and found only a modest association between maternal age at birth and self-reported indicators of infertility. Still, the association with childlessness was highly consistent. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDING Given the widespread tendency to delay childbearing, evaluating the influence of maternal age at birth on offspring fertility is a public health priority. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Programme of the NIH, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Z01-ES044005). The authors report no conflict of interest.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- O Basso
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada H4A 3J1.,Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada H3A 1A2
| | - C R Weinberg
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park 27709, USA
| | - A A D'Aloisio
- Social & Scientific Systems Inc., Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - D P Sandler
- Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park 27709, USA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Barclay K, Myrskylä M. Parental age and offspring mortality: Negative effects of reproductive ageing may be counterbalanced by secular increases in longevity. Population Studies 2018; 72:157-173. [DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2017.1411969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kieron Barclay
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
- Stockholm University
- London School of Economics and Political Science
| | - Mikko Myrskylä
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- University of Helsinki
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Ankutowicz EJ, Laird RA. Offspring of older parents are smaller-but no less bilaterally symmetrical-than offspring of younger parents in the aquatic plant Lemna turionifera. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:679-687. [PMID: 29321904 PMCID: PMC5756881 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Revised: 10/04/2017] [Accepted: 11/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Offspring quality decreases with parental age in many taxa, with offspring of older parents exhibiting reduced life span, reproductive capacity, and fitness, compared to offspring of younger parents. These "parental age effects," whose consequences arise in the next generation, can be considered as manifestations of parental senescence, in addition to the more familiar age-related declines in parent-generation survival and reproduction. Parental age effects are important because they may have feedback effects on the evolution of demographic trajectories and longevity. In addition to altering the timing of offspring life-history milestones, parental age effects can also have a negative impact on offspring size, with offspring of older parents being smaller than offspring of younger parents. Here, we consider the effects of advancing parental age on a different aspect of offspring morphology, body symmetry. In this study, we followed all 403 offspring of 30 parents of a bilaterally symmetrical, clonally reproducing aquatic plant species, Lemna turionifera, to test the hypothesis that successive offspring become less symmetrical as their parent ages, using the "Continuous Symmetry Measure" as an index. Although successive offspring of aging parents older than one week became smaller and smaller, we found scant evidence for any reduction in bilateral symmetry.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Ankutowicz
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB Canada
| | - Robert A Laird
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB Canada
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Arslan RC, Willführ KP, Frans EM, Verweij KJH, Bürkner PC, Myrskylä M, Voland E, Almqvist C, Zietsch BP, Penke L. Older fathers' children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:rspb.2017.1562. [PMID: 28904145 DOI: 10.1101/042788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 05/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Higher paternal age at offspring conception increases de novo genetic mutations. Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted older fathers' children, all else equal, would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In sibling control studies, we find support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.4 million. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670-1850) Western populations and showed negative paternal age effects on infant survival and offspring reproductive success. In twentieth-century Sweden, we found minuscule paternal age effects on survival, but found negative effects on reproductive success. Effects survived tests for key competing explanations, including maternal age and parental loss, but effects varied widely over different plausible model specifications and some competing explanations such as diminishing paternal investment and epigenetic mutations could not be tested. We can use our findings to aid in predicting the effect increasingly older parents in today's society will have on their children's survival and reproductive success. To the extent that we succeeded in isolating a mutation-driven effect of paternal age, our results can be understood to show that de novo mutations reduce offspring fitness across populations and time periods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ruben C Arslan
- Biological Personality Psychology, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kai P Willführ
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Emma M Frans
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Karin J H Verweij
- Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | | | - Mikko Myrskylä
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany
- Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
- Population Research Unit, University of Helsinki, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Eckart Voland
- Department of Biophilosophy, Justus Liebig University Gießen, 35390 Gießen, Germany
| | - Catarina Almqvist
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
- Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonology Unit at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Brendan P Zietsch
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
- Genetic Epidemiology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia
| | - Lars Penke
- Biological Personality Psychology, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Arslan RC, Willführ KP, Frans EM, Verweij KJH, Bürkner PC, Myrskylä M, Voland E, Almqvist C, Zietsch BP, Penke L. Older fathers' children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20171562. [PMID: 28904145 PMCID: PMC5597845 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Higher paternal age at offspring conception increases de novo genetic mutations. Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted older fathers' children, all else equal, would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In sibling control studies, we find support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.4 million. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670-1850) Western populations and showed negative paternal age effects on infant survival and offspring reproductive success. In twentieth-century Sweden, we found minuscule paternal age effects on survival, but found negative effects on reproductive success. Effects survived tests for key competing explanations, including maternal age and parental loss, but effects varied widely over different plausible model specifications and some competing explanations such as diminishing paternal investment and epigenetic mutations could not be tested. We can use our findings to aid in predicting the effect increasingly older parents in today's society will have on their children's survival and reproductive success. To the extent that we succeeded in isolating a mutation-driven effect of paternal age, our results can be understood to show that de novo mutations reduce offspring fitness across populations and time periods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ruben C Arslan
- Biological Personality Psychology, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kai P Willführ
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Emma M Frans
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Karin J H Verweij
- Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | | | - Mikko Myrskylä
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany
- Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
- Population Research Unit, University of Helsinki, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Eckart Voland
- Department of Biophilosophy, Justus Liebig University Gießen, 35390 Gießen, Germany
| | - Catarina Almqvist
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
- Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonology Unit at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Brendan P Zietsch
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
- Genetic Epidemiology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia
| | - Lars Penke
- Biological Personality Psychology, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Lippens C, Faivre B, Lechenault C, Sorci G. Aging parasites produce offspring with poor fitness prospects. Biol Lett 2017; 13:rsbl.2016.0888. [PMID: 28202684 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2016] [Accepted: 01/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Senescing individuals have poor survival prospects and low fecundity. They can also produce offspring with reduced survival and reproductive success. We tested the effect of parental age on the performance of descendants in the nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus, an intestinal parasite of rodents. We found that offspring of senescing worms had reduced within-host survival and reduced egg shedding over the first month post-infection compared with offspring produced by young parents. These results suggest that declining offspring quality is a component of senescence in parasitic nematodes and might have evolutionary consequences for the optimal schedule of age-dependent investment into reproductive effort.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Lippens
- Biogéosciences, CNRS UMR6282, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 Bd Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Bruno Faivre
- Biogéosciences, CNRS UMR6282, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 Bd Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Clothilde Lechenault
- Biogéosciences, CNRS UMR6282, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 Bd Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Gabriele Sorci
- Biogéosciences, CNRS UMR6282, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 Bd Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Fay R, Barbraud C, Delord K, Weimerskirch H. Paternal but not maternal age influences early-life performance of offspring in a long-lived seabird. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:rspb.2015.2318. [PMID: 27053738 PMCID: PMC4843644 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/09/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Variability in demographic traits between individuals within populations has profound implications for both evolutionary processes and population dynamics. Parental effects as a source of non-genetic inheritance are important processes to consider to understand the causes of individual variation. In iteroparous species, parental age is known to influence strongly reproductive success and offspring quality, but consequences on an offspring fitness component after independence are much less studied. Based on 37 years longitudinal monitoring of a long-lived seabird, the wandering albatross, we investigate delayed effects of parental age on offspring fitness components. We provide evidence that parental age influences offspring performance beyond the age of independence. By distinguishing maternal and paternal age effects, we demonstrate that paternal age, but not maternal age, impacts negatively post-fledging offspring performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Fay
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 CNRS/Univ La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France
| | - Christophe Barbraud
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 CNRS/Univ La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France
| | - Karine Delord
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 CNRS/Univ La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France
| | - Henri Weimerskirch
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 CNRS/Univ La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Ewbank D. Measuring selection in human populations using the growth rate per generation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150148. [PMID: 27022075 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Estimates of the speed of evolution between generations depend on the association between individual traits and a measure of fitness. The two most frequently used measures of fitness are the net reproduction rate and the 1-year growth factor implied by the fertility and mortality rates. Results based on the two lead to very different results. The reason is that the 1-year growth factor is not a measure of change between generations. Therefore, studies of changes between generations should use the amount of growth over the length of a generation. This is especially important for studies of human populations because of the long length of generation. In addition, estimates based on a single year's growth are overly sensitive to data on individuals who fail to reproduce. The effects of using a generational measure are demonstrated using data from Kenya and Ukraine. These results demonstrate that using a 1-year growth rate to measure fitness leads to estimates that understate the rate at which evolution changes the characteristics of a human population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Douglas Ewbank
- Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Nitsch A, Lummaa V, Faurie C. Sibship effects on dispersal behaviour in a pre-industrial human population. J Evol Biol 2016; 29:1986-1998. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2016] [Revised: 06/14/2016] [Accepted: 06/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. Nitsch
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; University of Sheffield; Sheffield UK
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse; Toulouse France
- University of Montpellier; Montpellier France
- Institute des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - V. Lummaa
- Department of Biology; University of Turku; Turku Finland
| | - C. Faurie
- University of Montpellier; Montpellier France
- Institute des Sciences de l'Evolution-Montpellier; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Pettay JE, Lahdenperä M, Rotkirch A, Lummaa V. Costly reproductive competition between co-resident females in humans. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
|
36
|
Kelleher J, Etheridge A, Véber A, Barton N. Spread of pedigree versus genetic ancestry in spatially distributed populations. Theor Popul Biol 2016; 108:1-12. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2015.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2015] [Revised: 09/07/2015] [Accepted: 10/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
37
|
Barks PM, Laird RA. A multigenerational effect of parental age on offspring size but not fitness in common duckweed (Lemna minor). J Evol Biol 2016; 29:748-56. [PMID: 26728747 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2015] [Revised: 12/14/2015] [Accepted: 12/28/2015] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Classic theories on the evolution of senescence make the simplifying assumption that all offspring are of equal quality, so that demographic senescence only manifests through declining rates of survival or fecundity. However, there is now evidence that, in addition to declining rates of survival and fecundity, many organisms are subject to age-related declines in the quality of offspring produced (i.e. parental age effects). Recent modelling approaches allow for the incorporation of parental age effects into classic demographic analyses, assuming that such effects are limited to a single generation. Does this 'single-generation' assumption hold? To find out, we conducted a laboratory study with the aquatic plant Lemna minor, a species for which parental age effects have been demonstrated previously. We compared the size and fitness of 423 laboratory-cultured plants (asexually derived ramets) representing various birth orders, and ancestral 'birth-order genealogies'. We found that offspring size and fitness both declined with increasing 'immediate' birth order (i.e. birth order with respect to the immediate parent), but only offspring size was affected by ancestral birth order. Thus, the assumption that parental age effects on offspring fitness are limited to a single generation does in fact hold for L. minor. This result will guide theorists aiming to refine and generalize modelling approaches that incorporate parental age effects into evolutionary theory on senescence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- P M Barks
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - R A Laird
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Heidinger BJ, Herborn KA, Granroth‐Wilding HM, Boner W, Burthe S, Newell M, Wanless S, Daunt F, Monaghan P. Parental age influences offspring telomere loss. Funct Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Britt J. Heidinger
- Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences University of Glasgow Graham Kerr Building Glasgow G12 8QQ UK
| | - Katherine A. Herborn
- Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences University of Glasgow Graham Kerr Building Glasgow G12 8QQ UK
| | - Hanna M.V. Granroth‐Wilding
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Immunology and Infection Research School of Biological Sciences University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT UK
| | - Winnie Boner
- Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences University of Glasgow Graham Kerr Building Glasgow G12 8QQ UK
| | - Sarah Burthe
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Bush Estate Penicuik Midlothian EH26 0QB UK
| | - Mark Newell
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Bush Estate Penicuik Midlothian EH26 0QB UK
| | - Sarah Wanless
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Bush Estate Penicuik Midlothian EH26 0QB UK
| | - Francis Daunt
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Bush Estate Penicuik Midlothian EH26 0QB UK
| | - Pat Monaghan
- Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences University of Glasgow Graham Kerr Building Glasgow G12 8QQ UK
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
van den Heuvel J, English S, Uller T. Disposable Soma Theory and the Evolution of Maternal Effects on Ageing. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0145544. [PMID: 26752635 PMCID: PMC4709080 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2015] [Accepted: 12/04/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Maternal effects are ubiquitous in nature and affect a wide range of offspring phenotypes. Recent research suggests that maternal effects also contribute to ageing, but the theoretical basis for these observations is poorly understood. Here we develop a simple model to derive expectations for (i) if maternal effects on ageing evolve; (ii) the strength of maternal effects on ageing relative to direct environmental effects; and (iii) the predicted relationships between environmental quality, maternal age and offspring lifespan. Our model is based on the disposable soma theory of ageing, and the key assumption is thus that mothers trade off their own somatic maintenance against investment in offspring. This trade-off affects the biological age of offspring at birth in terms of accumulated damage, as indicated by biomarkers such as oxidative stress or telomere length. We find that the optimal allocation between investment in maternal somatic investment and investment in offspring results in old mothers and mothers with low resource availability producing offspring with reduced life span. Furthermore, the effects are interactive, such that the strongest maternal age effects on offspring lifespan are found under low resource availability. These findings are broadly consistent with results from laboratory studies investigating the onset and rate of ageing and field studies examining maternal effects on ageing in the wild.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joost van den Heuvel
- Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5PL, United Kingdom
- Plant Sciences Group, Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1 6708PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sinead English
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias Uller
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Hayward AD, Nenko I, Lummaa V. Early-life reproduction is associated with increased mortality risk but enhanced lifetime fitness in pre-industrial humans. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20143053. [PMID: 25740893 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.3053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The physiology of reproductive senescence in women is well understood, but the drivers of variation in senescence rates are less so. Evolutionary theory predicts that early-life investment in reproduction should be favoured by selection at the cost of reduced survival and faster reproductive senescence. We tested this hypothesis using data collected from preindustrial Finnish church records. Reproductive success increased up to age 25 and was relatively stable until a decline from age 41. Women with higher early-life fecundity (ELF; producing more children before age 25) subsequently had higher mortality risk, but high ELF was not associated with accelerated senescence in annual breeding success. However, women with higher ELF experienced faster senescence in offspring survival. Despite these apparent costs, ELF was under positive selection: individuals with higher ELF had higher lifetime reproductive success. These results are consistent with previous observations in both humans and wild vertebrates that more births and earlier onset of reproduction are associated with reduced survival, and with evolutionary theory predicting trade-offs between early reproduction and later-life survival. The results are particularly significant given recent increases in maternal ages in many societies and the potential consequences for offspring health and fitness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adam D Hayward
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Ilona Nenko
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Virpi Lummaa
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Plaistow SJ, Shirley C, Collin H, Cornell SJ, Harney ED. Offspring Provisioning Explains Clone-Specific Maternal Age Effects on Life History and Life Span in the Water Flea, Daphnia pulex. Am Nat 2015; 186:376-89. [DOI: 10.1086/682277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
42
|
Bouwhuis S, Vedder O, Becker PH. Sex-specific pathways of parental age effects on offspring lifetime reproductive success in a long-lived seabird. Evolution 2015; 69:1760-71. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.12692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2014] [Accepted: 05/22/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Bouwhuis
- Institute of Avian Research; An der Vogelwarte 21; D-26386 Wilhelmshaven Germany
| | - Oscar Vedder
- Institute of Avian Research; An der Vogelwarte 21; D-26386 Wilhelmshaven Germany
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences; University of Groningen; PO Box 11103 9700 CC Groningen the Netherlands
| | - Peter H. Becker
- Institute of Avian Research; An der Vogelwarte 21; D-26386 Wilhelmshaven Germany
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Hayward AD, Lummaa V, Bazykin GA. Fitness Consequences of Advanced Ancestral Age over Three Generations in Humans. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0128197. [PMID: 26030274 PMCID: PMC4451146 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2014] [Accepted: 04/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A rapid rise in age at parenthood in contemporary societies has increased interest in reports of higher prevalence of de novo mutations and health problems in individuals with older fathers, but the fitness consequences of such age effects over several generations remain untested. Here, we use extensive pedigree data on seven pre-industrial Finnish populations to show how the ages of ancestors for up to three generations are associated with fitness traits. Individuals whose fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fathered their lineage on average under age 30 were ~13% more likely to survive to adulthood than those whose ancestors fathered their lineage at over 40 years. In addition, females had a lower probability of marriage if their male ancestors were older. These findings are consistent with an increase of the number of accumulated de novo mutations with male age, suggesting that deleterious mutations acquired from recent ancestors may be a substantial burden to fitness in humans. However, possible non-mutational explanations for the observed associations are also discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adam D Hayward
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Alfred Denny Building, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom; Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, United Kingdom
| | - Virpi Lummaa
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Alfred Denny Building, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom
| | - Georgii A Bazykin
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kharkevich Institute), Bolshoy Karetny pereulok 19, Moscow, 127994, Russia; Department of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorbyevy Gory 1-73, Moscow, 119992, Russia; Belozersky Institute for Physical and Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorbyevy Gory 1-40, Moscow, 119992, Russia; Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Ul. Ostrovityanova 1, Moscow, 117997, Russia
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Castri L, Luiselli D, Pettener D, Melendez-Obando M, Villegas-Palma R, Barrantes R, Madrigal L. A mitochondrial haplogroup is associated with decreased longevity in a historic new world population. Hum Biol 2015; 86:251-9. [PMID: 25959692 DOI: 10.13110/humanbiology.86.4.0251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Interest in mitochondrial influences on extended longevity has been mounting, as evidenced by a growing literature. Such work has demonstrated that some haplogroups are associated with increased longevity and that such associations are population specific. Most previous work, however, suffers from the methodological shortcoming that long-lived individuals are compared with "controls" who are born decades after the aged individuals. The only true controls of the elderly are people who were born in the same time period but who did not have extended longevity. Here we present results of a study in which we are able to test whether longevity is independent of haplogroup type, controlling for time period, by using mtDNA genealogies. Since mtDNA does not recombine, we know the mtDNA haplogroup of the maternal ancestors of our living participants. Thus, we can compare the haplogroup of people with and without extended longevity who were born during the same time period. Our sample is an admixed New World population that has haplogroups of Amerindian, European, and African origin. We show that women who belong to Amerindian, European, and African haplogroups do not differ in their mean longevity. Therefore, to the extent that ethnicity was tied in this population to mtDNA make-up, such ethnicity did not impact longevity. In support of previous suggestions that the link between mtDNA haplogroups and longevity is specific to the population being studied, we found an association between haplogroup C and decreased longevity. Interestingly, the lifetime reproductive success and the number of grandchildren produced via a daughter of women with haplogroup C are not reduced. Our diachronic approach to the mtDNA and longevity link allowed us to determine that the same haplogroup is associated with decreased longevity during different time periods and allowed us to compare the haplogroup of short- and long-lived individuals born during the same time period. By controlling for time period, we minimized the effect of different cultural and ecological environments on differential longevity. With our diachronic approach, we investigated the mtDNA and longevity link with a biocultural perspective.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Loredana Castri
- 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
45
|
Abstract
A nongenetic, transgenerational effect of parental age on offspring fitness has been described in many taxa in the laboratory. Such a transgenerational fitness effect will have important influences on population dynamics, population age structure, and the evolution of aging and lifespan. However, effects of parental age on offspring lifetime fitness have never been demonstrated in a natural population. We show that parental age has sex-specific negative effects on lifetime fitness, using data from a pedigreed insular population of wild house sparrows. Birds whose parents were older produced fewer recruits annually than birds with younger parents, and the reduced number of recruits translated into a lifetime fitness difference. Using a long-term cross-fostering experiment, we demonstrate that this parental age effect is unlikely to be the result of changes in the environment but that it potentially is epigenetically inherited. Our study reveals the hidden consequences of late-life reproduction that persist into the next generation.
Collapse
|
46
|
Barks PM, Laird RA. Senescence in duckweed: age‐related declines in survival, reproduction and offspring quality. Funct Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick M. Barks
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AlbertaT1K 3M4 Canada
| | - Robert A. Laird
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AlbertaT1K 3M4 Canada
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Gillespie DOS, Trotter MV, Krishna-Kumar S, Tuljapurkar SD. Birth-order differences can drive natural selection on aging. Evolution 2014; 68:886-92. [PMID: 24274174 DOI: 10.1111/evo.12319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2013] [Accepted: 11/15/2013] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Senescence-the deterioration of survival and reproductive capacity with increasing age-is generally held to be an evolutionary consequence of the declining strength of natural selection with increasing age. The diversity in rates of aging observed in nature suggests that the rate at which age-specific selection weakens is determined by species-specific ecological factors. We propose that, in iteroparous species, relationships between parental age, offspring birth order, and environment may affect selection on senescence. Later-born siblings have, on average, older parents than do first borns. Offspring born to older parents may experience different environments in terms of family support or inherited resources, factors often mediated by competition from siblings. Thus, age-specific selection on parents may change if the environment produces birth-order related gradients in reproductive success. We use an age-and-stage structured population model to investigate the impact of sibling environmental inequality on the expected evolution of senescence. We show that accelerated senescence evolves when later-born siblings are likely to experience an environment detrimental to lifetime reproduction. In general, sibling inequality is likely to be of particular importance for the evolution of senescence in species such as humans, where family interactions and resource inheritance have important roles in determining lifetime reproduction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Duncan O S Gillespie
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305; Department of Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GB, United Kingdom.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
48
|
Nenko I, Hayward AD, Lummaa V. The effect of socio-economic status and food availability on first birth interval in a pre-industrial human population. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 281:20132319. [PMID: 24285194 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual variation in nutritional status has direct implications for fitness and thus is crucial in shaping patterns of life-history variation. Nevertheless, it is difficult to measure in natural populations, especially in humans. Here, we used longitudinal data on individual life-histories and annual crop yield variation collected from pre-industrial Finnish populations experiencing natural mortality and fertility to test the validity of first birth interval (FBI; time between marriage and first birth) as a surrogate measure of nutritional status. We evaluated whether women with different socio-economic groups differ in length of FBI, whether women of poorer socio-economic status and experiencing lower crop yields conceive slower following marriage, and whether shorter FBI is associated with higher lifetime breeding success. We found that poorer women had longer FBI and reduced probability of giving birth in months with low food availability, while the FBI of richer women was not affected by variation in food availability. Women with shorter FBI achieved higher lifetime breeding success and a faster reproductive rate. This is, to our knowledge, the first study to show a direct relationship between environmental conditions and speed of childbirth following marriage, highlighting the value of FBI as an indicator of nutritional status when direct data are lacking.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Nenko
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, , Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK, Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, , Grzegorzecka 20, Krakow 31-531, Poland
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
49
|
Hayward AD, Rickard IJ, Lummaa V. Influence of early-life nutrition on mortality and reproductive success during a subsequent famine in a preindustrial population. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:13886-91. [PMID: 23918366 PMCID: PMC3752237 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1301817110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with insufficient nutrition during development often experience poorer later-life health and evolutionary fitness. The Predictive Adaptive Response (PAR) hypothesis proposes that poor early-life nutrition induces physiological changes that maximize fitness in similar environments in adulthood and that metabolic diseases result when individuals experiencing poor nutrition during development subsequently encounter good nutrition in adulthood. However, although cohort studies have shown that famine exposure in utero reduces health in favorable later-life conditions, no study on humans has demonstrated the predicted fitness benefit under low later-life nutrition, leaving the evolutionary origins of such plasticity unexplored. Taking advantage of a well-documented famine and unique datasets of individual life histories and crop yields from two preindustrial Finnish populations, we provide a test of key predictions of the PAR hypothesis. Known individuals from fifty cohorts were followed from birth until the famine, where we analyzed their survival and reproductive success in relation to the crop yields around birth. We were also able to test whether the long-term effects of early-life nutrition differed between individuals of varying socioeconomic status. We found that, contrary to predictions of the PAR hypothesis, individuals experiencing low early-life crop yields showed lower survival and fertility during the famine than individuals experiencing high early-life crop yields. These effects were more pronounced among young individuals and those of low socioeconomic status. Our results do not support the hypothesis that PARs should have been favored by natural selection and suggest that alternative models may need to be invoked to explain the epidemiology of metabolic diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adam D Hayward
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|