A trade-off between having many sons and shorter maternal post-reproductive survival in pre-industrial Finland

Helle, Samuli; Lummaa, Virpi

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0034

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The only exceptions are investigations in humans, which provide mixed support for the hypothesis that sons reduce maternal post-menopausal lifespan more than daughters (see mini-review in [22]). Furthermore, the differential effects of sons and daughters on post-reproductive lifespan in human mothers may be owing to sociocultural rather than biological mechanisms [23][24][25]. For instance, in several societies, daughters provide more help than sons for elderly parents [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal longevity and offspring sex in wild ungulates

et al. 2019

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In species with sexual size dimorphism, the offspring of the larger sex usually have greater energy requirements and may lead to greater fitness costs for parents. The effects of offspring sex on maternal longevity, however, have only been tested in humans. Human studies produced mixed results and considerable debate mainly owing to the difficulty of distinguishing the effects of sexual dimorphism from sociocultural factors. To advance this debate, we examined how the relative number of sons influenced maternal longevity in four species of free-living ungulates (Soay sheep Ovis aries; bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis; red deer, Cervus elaphus; mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus), with high male-biased sexual size dimorphism but without complicating sociocultural variables. We found no evidence for a higher cumulative cost of sons than of daughters on maternal longevity. For a given number of offspring, most females with many sons in all four populations lived longer than females with few sons. The higher cost of sons over daughters on maternal lifespan reported by some human studies may be the exception rather than the rule in long-lived iteroparous species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal longevity and offspring sex in wild ungulates

et al. 2019

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“…Whereas historical life history research finds that males exert a higher reproductive cost to the mother than do females (12,13), it remains unclear whether this finding holds in contemporary populations. Sons have greater average birth weight and height (35,36).…”

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confidence: 78%

“…Whereas the mother's first exposure to these antigens may not induce an inflammatory reaction, researchers posit that they may elicit an inflammatory cytokine cascade in the subsequent pregnancy, which may in turn accelerate the timing of parturition, affect fetal growth, or increase the risk of fetal demise (10,11). A second report, based on results from 18 th and 19 th century Finland, contends that males more 4 than females exert a higher cost to the mother in terms of her reduced lifespan and her lower fitness of subsequent offspring (12,13). This heightened maternal load of rearing males may elicit responses that, in turn, elevate the risk of adverse outcomes for the subsequent pregnancy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heightened risk of preterm birth and growth restriction after a first-born son

Bruckner

Mayo

Gould

et al. 2015

Annals of Epidemiology

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PURPOSE:In Scandinavia, delivery of a first-born son elevates the risk of preterm delivery and intrauterine growth restriction of the next-born infant. External validity of these results remains unclear. We test this hypothesis for preterm delivery and growth restriction using the linked California birth cohort file. We examined the hypothesis separately by race/ethnicity. METHODS:We retrieved data on 2,852,976 births to 1,426,488 mothers with at least two live births. Our within-mother tests applied Cox proportional hazards (preterm delivery, defined as <37 weeks gestation) and linear regression models (birthweight for gestational age percentiles). RESULTS:For non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indian / Alaska Natives, analyses indicate heightened risk of preterm delivery and growth restriction following a first-born male. The race-specific hazard ratios for preterm delivery range from 1.07 to 1.18. Regression coefficients for birthweight-for-gestational-age percentile range from -0.73 to -1.49. The 95% confidence intervals for all these estimates do not contain the null. By contrast, we could not reject the null for non-Hispanic black mothers.CONCLUSION: Whereas California findings generally support those from Scandinavia, the null results among non-Hispanic black mothers suggest that we do not detect adverse outcomes following a first-born male in all racial/ethnic groups.

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“…For example, it is predicted that there would be genetic correlations between early and late‐life fitness but these might not always be negative (e.g., Maklakov, Rowe, & Friberg, ) and the unappreciated costs of germ line maintenance challenge the fecundity‐life span trade‐off (Maklakov & Immler, ). Elevated rates of reproduction have been shown to decrease life span in a range of species (Chapman, Liddle, Kalb, Wolfner, & Partridge, ; Helle & Lummaa, ; Maynard Smith, ; Partridge & Farquhar, ; Tatar, Carey, & Vaupel, ). Furthermore, the hypothesized trade‐off between early and late‐life reproduction has been supported by various studies of wild vertebrates (Bouwhuis, Charmantier, Verhulst, & Sheldon, ; Nussey, Kruuk, Donald, Fowlie, & Clutton‐Brock, ; Reed et al, ), likewise the influence of early reproductive effort on late‐life survival and late‐life body condition (Beirne, Delahay, & Young, ; Lemaître et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to males, but not receipt of sex peptide, accelerates functional ageing in female fruit flies

Bretman

Fricke

2019

Functional Ecology

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Increased exposure to males can affect females negatively, reducing female life span and fitness. These costs could derive from increased mating rate and also harassment by males. Additionally, early investment in reproduction can increase the onset or rate of senescence in reproductive traits. Hence, there is a tight link between reproduction and ageing. Here, we assess how mating and encounter rate with males impacts declines in female functional traits that are not directly involved in reproduction. In Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies, exposure to males and mating reduces female life span through harassment and receipt of seminal proteins, including sex peptide (SP). We manipulated the intensity of female exposure to males and regularly assessed female stress responses and recorded physiological traits over her lifetime. Both mating itself and increased exposure to males accelerate declines in female climbing ability and starvation resistance. However, this is not related to changes in female body mass or fat storage. Moreover, these declines are not driven by the receipt of SP. Our results suggest some synchrony in senescence across traits in response to female exposure to males; however, this is not universal, as we did not find this for physiological traits. Synchrony in senescence has been theorized but little supported in the literature. It is clear that ageing is a multifaceted trait; to understand environmental impacts on ageing rates, we must measure more than life span and indeed measure senescence in multiple traits. Specifically, our work shows that we must identify which female traits are sensitive to elevated mating activity to understand the impact of antagonistic interactions between the sexes on female ageing patterns. A plain language summary is available for this article.

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A trade-off between having many sons and shorter maternal post-reproductive survival in pre-industrial Finland

Cited by 28 publications

References 26 publications

Maternal longevity and offspring sex in wild ungulates

Maternal longevity and offspring sex in wild ungulates

Heightened risk of preterm birth and growth restriction after a first-born son

Exposure to males, but not receipt of sex peptide, accelerates functional ageing in female fruit flies

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