Week 2 Flashcards
What things are investigated in life history traits?
Size at birth, growth rate, age and size at sexual maturity, number offspring, size and sex ratio, age- and size-specific reproductive investment and mortality schedule, lifespan
What is R0?
Lifetime expectation of female offspring; net reproductive rate
How do you calculate R0?
sum of lxmx
lx = survival to age x
mx = birth rate
What does life history maximise?
maximises r, intrinsic rate of increase, or Malthusian parameter
What does Euler-Lotka equation calculate?
r (fitness) related to history parameters (survival probability and fertility)
What is an example of an event history diagram showing how lifespan and fecindity are related?
Wildtype - 0.75 dead by day 18 but producing 100 + eggs for 3 days
Daf-2 - 0.25 dead by day 18 but only 1 day are 100+ eggs produced
Trade off both produce same amount of eggs but wt are earlier but dont live as long
Why do trade offs occur in nature?
Constraints prevent life history variables leading to high r from being simultaneously maximised
What are hypothetical examples of trade offs?
Traits that increase r might make the organism more vulnerable to ecological hazards (predation, parasitism)
May be constraints that put limits on what can be achieved (reproduction vs lifespan)
What important trade offs in nature?
Current reproduction and survival
Current and future reproduction
Number, size and sex of offspring
Reproduction and immune status
What is a trade off between nursing and mortality rate?
Nursing roe deer have increased mortality rate per year, increasing with age
Non nursing mothers dont have an increase in mortality rate except at 14 years old
What is an example of human familes and the data used for life to child impact?
Finland lutherans n = 22,000 people
Strict Lutherans - Required to submit accurate censuses,
1700s-1900; low paternity outside marriage
2200 families average family size ~6; 60% surviving to adulthood, ~80-90% followed until death
What was the link between maternal longevity with child in the Lutherans Fins?
Mothers life expectancy decreases with more sons
Negligable change in life expectancy with more daughters
How are physiological trade offs measured?
Phenotypic manipulations
Genetic manipulations
Phenotypic correlations
What is an example of phenotypic manipulations?
Manipulations that extend lifespan also reduce reproduction
What is an example phenotypic manipulation in primates?
Macaques > 27 years old (old)
Calorie restricted diet - CR is adequate nutrition on 30 percent fewer calories
What was the outcome of calorie resticted diet in Macaques?
CR diet - lower levels of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, brain atrophy and lean-muscle loss
5/38 CR monkeys died from age-related causes 14/38 controls
What is an example of genetic manipulations for measuring trade offs?
Genetic manipulation of reproductive pathways (e.g. removal of germ line & nutrient sensing) leading to extended lifespan
What was an experiment genetic manipulation for measuring impacts of lifespan?
Drosophilia melanogaster - remived germ line cells
Both male and female flies that have germ line cells removed lived longer than wildtype
What is an example of phenotypic correlations for measuring trade offs?
Measurements on un-manipulated individuals e.g negative associations between offspring and lifespan
What is an example of phenotypic correlations for impact on lifespan?
The Lutharan finnish women (more sons lower maternal longevity, dughter had a minor impact)
What are the problems with phenotypic correlations?
This approach cannot directly demonstrate causality
Most / all work on humans is correlational