Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)

Flourishing recent comparative studies on senescence have revealed an uncovered diversity across the tree of life of the shapes of the age trajectories of mortality (actuarial senescence) and to a lesser extent of reproduction (reproductive senescence). Evolutionary theories have been called up to e...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thomas Tully
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1112045/full
_version_ 1797647677611048960
author Thomas Tully
author_facet Thomas Tully
author_sort Thomas Tully
collection DOAJ
description Flourishing recent comparative studies on senescence have revealed an uncovered diversity across the tree of life of the shapes of the age trajectories of mortality (actuarial senescence) and to a lesser extent of reproduction (reproductive senescence). Evolutionary theories have been called up to explain why some species suffer from positive senescence while others benefit from negligible or even negative senescence. We still know little about how, within a species, the shapes of the age trajectories of different traits are linked to each other and how they vary or covary depending on the genetic background and environmental conditions. We report here the results of an experimental study whose aim was to describe the actuarial and reproductive senescence in various genetically distinct lineages of a Collembola, a hexapod with indeterminate growth. We compared the age trajectories of individuals raised under two food regimes to study if and how the shapes of these age trajectories are plastically modified by environmental conditions. We found clear evidence of actuarial and reproductive senescence, especially when the springtails were fully fed. Clutch size increased as female become older and then declined progressively after reproduction reached a maximum. This age decline in fertility went along with a progressive slowing down of the pace of the egg-laying, a reduction of egg quality (more sterile eggs), while egg size undergoes little change with age. We found that the onset of reproductive decline occurred before the beginning of actuarial senescence, and show that escaping senescence is physiologically possible for certain lineages under dietary restricted conditions.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T15:20:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-4827dedd1d5b44d19bbb1bd59ce1c949
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2296-701X
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T15:20:01Z
publishDate 2023-10-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
spelling doaj.art-4827dedd1d5b44d19bbb1bd59ce1c9492023-10-28T20:57:18ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2023-10-011110.3389/fevo.2023.11120451112045Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)Thomas TullyFlourishing recent comparative studies on senescence have revealed an uncovered diversity across the tree of life of the shapes of the age trajectories of mortality (actuarial senescence) and to a lesser extent of reproduction (reproductive senescence). Evolutionary theories have been called up to explain why some species suffer from positive senescence while others benefit from negligible or even negative senescence. We still know little about how, within a species, the shapes of the age trajectories of different traits are linked to each other and how they vary or covary depending on the genetic background and environmental conditions. We report here the results of an experimental study whose aim was to describe the actuarial and reproductive senescence in various genetically distinct lineages of a Collembola, a hexapod with indeterminate growth. We compared the age trajectories of individuals raised under two food regimes to study if and how the shapes of these age trajectories are plastically modified by environmental conditions. We found clear evidence of actuarial and reproductive senescence, especially when the springtails were fully fed. Clutch size increased as female become older and then declined progressively after reproduction reached a maximum. This age decline in fertility went along with a progressive slowing down of the pace of the egg-laying, a reduction of egg quality (more sterile eggs), while egg size undergoes little change with age. We found that the onset of reproductive decline occurred before the beginning of actuarial senescence, and show that escaping senescence is physiologically possible for certain lineages under dietary restricted conditions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1112045/fullage trajectoryageingphenotypic plasticitydietary restrictionegg sizenegligible senescence
spellingShingle Thomas Tully
Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
age trajectory
ageing
phenotypic plasticity
dietary restriction
egg size
negligible senescence
title Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
title_full Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
title_fullStr Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
title_full_unstemmed Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
title_short Diversity, plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the Collembola Folsomia candida (Willem, 1902)
title_sort diversity plasticity and asynchrony of actuarial and reproductive senescence in the collembola folsomia candida willem 1902
topic age trajectory
ageing
phenotypic plasticity
dietary restriction
egg size
negligible senescence
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1112045/full
work_keys_str_mv AT thomastully diversityplasticityandasynchronyofactuarialandreproductivesenescenceinthecollembolafolsomiacandidawillem1902