Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan
Abstract Early life adversity predicts shorter adult lifespan in several animal taxa. Yet, work on long‐lived primate populations suggests the evolution of mechanisms that contribute to resiliency and long lives despite early life insults. Here, we tested associations between individual and cumulati...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10689 |
| _version_ | 1797448659709722624 |
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| author | Stephanie J. Gonzalez Anthony J. Sherer Raisa Hernández‐Pacheco |
| author_facet | Stephanie J. Gonzalez Anthony J. Sherer Raisa Hernández‐Pacheco |
| author_sort | Stephanie J. Gonzalez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Early life adversity predicts shorter adult lifespan in several animal taxa. Yet, work on long‐lived primate populations suggests the evolution of mechanisms that contribute to resiliency and long lives despite early life insults. Here, we tested associations between individual and cumulative early life adversity and lifespan on rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago Biological Field Station using 50 years of demographic data. We performed sex‐specific survival analyses at different life stages to contrast short‐term effects of adversity (i.e., infant survival) with long‐term effects (i.e., adult survival). Female infants showed vulnerability to multiple adversities at birth, but affected females who survived to adulthood experienced a reduced risk later in life. In contrast, male infants showed vulnerability to a lower number of adversities at birth, but those who survived to adulthood were negatively affected by both early life individual and cumulative adversity. Our study shows profound immediate effects of insults on female infant cohorts and suggests that affected female adults are more robust. In contrast, adult males who experienced harsh conditions early in life showed an increased mortality risk at older ages as expected from hypotheses within the life course perspective. Our analysis suggests sex‐specific selection pressures on life histories and highlights the need for studies addressing the effects of early life adversity across multiple life stages. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:13:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3d953241f2a44eac92336b6c51d7e84c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:13:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-3d953241f2a44eac92336b6c51d7e84c2023-11-29T05:44:08ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582023-11-011311n/an/a10.1002/ece3.10689Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespanStephanie J. Gonzalez0Anthony J. Sherer1Raisa Hernández‐Pacheco2Department of Biological Sciences California State University Long Beach California USADepartment of Biological Sciences California State University Long Beach California USADepartment of Biological Sciences California State University Long Beach California USAAbstract Early life adversity predicts shorter adult lifespan in several animal taxa. Yet, work on long‐lived primate populations suggests the evolution of mechanisms that contribute to resiliency and long lives despite early life insults. Here, we tested associations between individual and cumulative early life adversity and lifespan on rhesus macaques at the Cayo Santiago Biological Field Station using 50 years of demographic data. We performed sex‐specific survival analyses at different life stages to contrast short‐term effects of adversity (i.e., infant survival) with long‐term effects (i.e., adult survival). Female infants showed vulnerability to multiple adversities at birth, but affected females who survived to adulthood experienced a reduced risk later in life. In contrast, male infants showed vulnerability to a lower number of adversities at birth, but those who survived to adulthood were negatively affected by both early life individual and cumulative adversity. Our study shows profound immediate effects of insults on female infant cohorts and suggests that affected female adults are more robust. In contrast, adult males who experienced harsh conditions early in life showed an increased mortality risk at older ages as expected from hypotheses within the life course perspective. Our analysis suggests sex‐specific selection pressures on life histories and highlights the need for studies addressing the effects of early life adversity across multiple life stages.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10689Cayo Santiagoearly life adversitylife history evolutionrhesus macaquessurvival analysis |
| spellingShingle | Stephanie J. Gonzalez Anthony J. Sherer Raisa Hernández‐Pacheco Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan Ecology and Evolution Cayo Santiago early life adversity life history evolution rhesus macaques survival analysis |
| title | Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| title_full | Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| title_fullStr | Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| title_short | Differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| title_sort | differential effects of early life adversity on male and female rhesus macaque lifespan |
| topic | Cayo Santiago early life adversity life history evolution rhesus macaques survival analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10689 |
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