Food availability affects adult survival trajectories depending on early developmental conditions

Food availability modulates survival in interaction with (for example) competition, disease and predators, but to what extent food availability in natural populations affects survival independent of these factors is not well known. We tested the effect of food availability on lifespan and actuarial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2017-01, Vol.284 (1846), p.20162287-20162287
Main Authors: Briga, Michael, Koetsier, Egbert, Boonekamp, Jelle J., Jimeno, Blanca, Verhulst, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ageing
Animal behavior
Animals
Availability
Birds
Diet
Dietary restrictions
Environment
Evolution
Female
Females
Finches
Food
Food availability
Foraging Costs
Gompertz
Invertebrates
Life span
Longevity
Male
Males
Mortality
Natural populations
Predators
Predictive Adaptive Response
Senescence
Silver Spoon Effect
Survival
Taeniopygia guttata
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Summary:Food availability modulates survival in interaction with (for example) competition, disease and predators, but to what extent food availability in natural populations affects survival independent of these factors is not well known. We tested the effect of food availability on lifespan and actuarial senescence in a large population of captive zebra finches by increasing the effort required to obtain food, reflecting natural contrasts in food availability. Food availability may not affect all individuals equally and we therefore created heterogeneity in phenotypic quality by raising birds with different numbers of siblings. Low food availability had no effect on lifespan for individuals from benign developmental conditions (raised in small broods), but shortened lifespan for individuals from harsh developmental conditions. The lifespan difference arose through higher baseline mortality rate of individuals from harsh developmental conditions, despite a decrease in the rate of actuarial senescence. We found no evidence for sex-specific environmental sensitivity, but females lived shorter than males due to increased actuarial senescence. Thus, low food availability by itself shortens lifespan, but only in individuals from harsh developmental conditions. Our food availability manipulation resembles dietary restriction as applied to invertebrates, where it extends lifespan in model organisms and we discuss possible reasons for the contrasting results.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2016.2287