Cold and isolated ectotherms: drivers of reptilian longevity

Stark, Gavin; Tamar, Karin; Itescu, Yuval; Feldman, Anat; Meiri, Shai

doi:10.1093/biolinnean/bly153

Cited by 43 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…6. In seasonally cold regions many mammals and ectotherms hibernate or aestivate for extended periods (Turbill, Bieber, & Ruf, 2011), reducing metabolic rates, and are thus expected to live longer Stark, Tamar, Itescu, Feldman, & Meiri, 2018;Wilkinson & Adams, 2019). Furthermore, ectotherms inhabiting seasonally cold regions grow and metabolize slowly and thus present lower rates of metabolic by-product accumulation.…”

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confidence: 99%

No evidence for the ‘rate‐of‐living’ theory across the tetrapod tree of life

Stark

Pincheira‐Donoso

Meiri

2020

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim The ‘rate‐of‐living’ theory predicts that life expectancy is a negative function of the rates at which organisms metabolize. According to this theory, factors that accelerate metabolic rates, such as high body temperature and active foraging, lead to organismic ‘wear‐out’. This process reduces life span through an accumulation of biochemical errors and the build‐up of toxic metabolic by‐products. Although the rate‐of‐living theory is a keystone underlying our understanding of life‐history trade‐offs, its validity has been recently questioned. The rate‐of‐living theory has never been tested on a global scale in a phylogenetic framework, or across both endotherms and ectotherms. Here, we test several of its fundamental predictions across the tetrapod tree of life. Location Global. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Land vertebrates. Methods Using a dataset spanning the life span data of 4,100 land vertebrate species (2,214 endotherms, 1,886 ectotherms), we performed the most comprehensive test to date of the fundamental predictions underlying the rate‐of‐living theory. We investigated how metabolic rates, and a range of factors generally perceived to be strongly associated with them, relate to longevity. Results Our findings did not support the predictions of the rate‐of‐living theory. Basal and field metabolic rates, seasonality, and activity times, as well as reptile body temperatures and foraging ecology, were found to be unrelated to longevity. In contrast, lower longevity across ectotherm species was associated with high environmental temperatures. Main conclusions We conclude that the rate‐of‐living theory does not hold true for terrestrial vertebrates, and suggest that life expectancy is driven by selection arising from extrinsic mortality factors. A simple link between metabolic rates, oxidative damage and life span is not supported. Importantly, our findings highlight the potential for rapid warming, resulting from the current increase in global temperatures, to drive accelerated rates of senescence in ectotherms.

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confidence: 99%

No evidence for the ‘rate‐of‐living’ theory across the tetrapod tree of life

Stark

Pincheira‐Donoso

Meiri

2020

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…While our results are more suggestive of a role of subterranean living on lifespan, few subterranean mammals have been kept in captivity or been the focus of long-term individual-based studies. Moreover, a recent comparative analysis of reptiles failed to find a significant effect of fossoriality on lifespan (Stark et al, 2018), which the authors reasoned could be because any reductions in predation risk brought about through fossoriality are offset by high metabolic costs of burrowing. Taken together it therefore seems premature to place judgement on the role of subterranean living on ageing patterns in mammals until higher resolution data is collated from a larger number of species which permanently inhabit a subterranean niche, both in the wild and in captivity.…”

Section: Model Termmentioning

confidence: 99%

The case for extended lifespan in cooperatively breeding mammals: a re-appraisal

Thorley¹

2020

PeerJ

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Recent comparative studies have suggested that cooperative breeding is associated with increases in maximum lifespan among mammals, replicating a pattern also seen in birds and insects. In this study, we re-examine the case for increased lifespan in mammalian cooperative breeders by analysing a large dataset of maximum longevity records. We did not find any consistent, strong evidence that cooperative breeders have longer lifespans than other mammals after having controlled for variation in body mass, mode of life and data quality. The only possible exception to this general trend is found in the African mole-rats (the Bathyergid family), where all members are relatively long-lived, but where the social, cooperatively breeding species appear to be much longer-lived than the solitary species. However, solitary mole-rat species have rarely been kept in captivity or followed longitudinally in the wild and so it seems likely that their maximum lifespan has been underestimated when compared to the highly researched social species. Although few subterranean mammals have received much attention in a captive or wild setting, current data instead supports a causal role of subterranean living on lifespan extension in mammals.

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“…Ambient temperature plays a key role in determining lifespan in Drosophila (Loeb and Northrop, 1917) and other ectotherms (Van Voorhies and Ward, 1999;Stark et al, 2018). Under high temperature 29°C-rearing, lifespan is~40-50 % shorter (compared to 25°C-rearing, median lifespan: 50 vs. 30 d respectively, Figure 1B), and we sought to determine how accurately the age-progression of motor circuit properties could be considered as a simple "compressed" manifestation at a higher temperature.…”

Section: Aging-resilient and -Vulnerable Aspects Of Motor Circuit Funmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinct aging-vulnerable trajectories of motor circuit functions in oxidation- and temperature-stressedDrosophila

Iyengar

Ruan

2020

Preprint

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We examined several sensory-motor processing circuits in Drosophila across the lifespan and uncovered distinctive age-resilient and age-vulnerable trajectories in their established functional properties. We observed relatively little deterioration toward the end of lifespan in the giant-fiber (GF) and downstream circuit elements responsible for the jump-and-flight escape reflex. In contrast, we found substantial age-dependent modifications in the performance of GF inputs and other circuits driving flight motoneuron activities. Importantly, in high temperature (HT)-reared flies (29 °C), the characteristic age-dependent progression of these properties was largely maintained, albeit over a compressed time scale, lending support for the common practice of expediting Drosophila aging studies by HT rearing. We discovered shortened lifespans in Cu2+/Zn2+ Superoxide Dismutase 1 (Sod) mutant flies were accompanied by alterations distinct from HT-reared flies, highlighting differential effects of oxidative vs temperature stressors. This work also establishes several age-vulnerable parameters that may serve as quantitative neurophysiological landmarks for aging in Drosophila.

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Cold and isolated ectotherms: drivers of reptilian longevity

Cited by 43 publications

References 72 publications

No evidence for the ‘rate‐of‐living’ theory across the tetrapod tree of life

No evidence for the ‘rate‐of‐living’ theory across the tetrapod tree of life

The case for extended lifespan in cooperatively breeding mammals: a re-appraisal

Distinct aging-vulnerable trajectories of motor circuit functions in oxidation- and temperature-stressedDrosophila

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