Individual state and survival prospects: age, sex, and telomere length in a long-lived seabird

Foote, Christopher; Daunt, Francis; González‐Solís, Jacob; Nasir, Lubna; Phillips, Richard A.; Monaghan, Pat

doi:10.1093/beheco/arq178

Cited by 35 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In both mammals and murres, direct parental care by the homogametic gender (females in mammals and males in birds) is associated with slower aging [4]. However, in southern giant petrels, females invest more than males in reproduction, but still senesce more slowly [41], lending support for the idea that parental care also plays a role in driving longevity. Selection for longevity in primary care-givers could result in mechanisms maintaining male TL which are not present in females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, Sex, and Telomere Dynamics in a Long-Lived Seabird with Male-Biased Parental Care

et al. 2013

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The examination of telomere dynamics is a recent technique in ecology for assessing physiological state and age-related traits from individuals of unknown age. Telomeres shorten with age in most species and are expected to reflect physiological state, reproductive investment, and chronological age. Loss of telomere length is used as an indicator of biological aging, as this detrimental deterioration is associated with lowered survival. Lifespan dimorphism and more rapid senescence in the larger, shorter-lived sex are predicted in species with sexual size dimorphism, however, little is known about the effects of behavioral dimorphism on senescence and life history traits in species with sexual monomorphism. Here we compare telomere dynamics of thick-billed murres ( Uria lomvia ), a species with male-biased parental care, in two ways: 1) cross-sectionally in birds of known-age (0-28 years) from one colony and 2) longitudinally in birds from four colonies. Telomere dynamics are compared using three measures: the telomere restriction fragment (TRF), a lower window of TRF (TOE), and qPCR. All showed age-related shortening of telomeres, but the TRF measure also indicated that adult female murres have shorter telomere length than adult males, consistent with sex-specific patterns of ageing. Adult males had longer telomeres than adult females on all colonies examined, but chick telomere length did not differ by sex. Additionally, inter-annual telomere changes may be related to environmental conditions; birds from a potentially low quality colony lost telomeres, while those at more hospitable colonies maintained telomere length. We conclude that sex-specific patterns of telomere loss exist in the sexually monomorphic thick-billed murre but are likely to occur between fledging and recruitment. Longer telomeres in males may be related to their homogamous sex chromosomes (ZZ) or to selection for longer life in the care-giving sex. Environmental conditions appeared to be the primary drivers of annual changes in adult birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age, Sex, and Telomere Dynamics in a Long-Lived Seabird with Male-Biased Parental Care

et al. 2013

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“…Variation in telomere length has been demonstrated to predict subsequent survival in numerous organisms [14-23]. Fascinatingly, a recent study in a captive population of zebra finches where telomere length was measured at various time points throughout the life of each individual showed that telomere length in early life (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of brood size manipulation and common origin on phenotype and telomere length in nestling collared flycatchers

et al. 2012

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BackgroundEvidence is accumulating that telomere length is a good predictor of life expectancy, especially early in life, thus calling for determining the factors that affect telomere length at this stage. Here, we investigated the relative influence of early growth conditions and origin (genetics and early maternal effects) on telomere length of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) at fledging. We experimentally transferred hatchlings among brood triplets to create reduced, control (i.e. unchanged final nestling number) and enlarged broods.ResultsAlthough our treatment significantly affected body mass at fledging, we found no evidence that increased sibling competition affected nestling tarsus length and telomere length. However, mixed models showed that brood triplets explained a significant part of the variance in body mass (18%) and telomere length (19%), but not tarsus length (13%), emphasizing that unmanipulated early environmental factors influenced telomere length. These models also revealed low, but significant, heritability of telomere length (h2 = 0.09). For comparison, the heritability of nestling body mass and tarsus length was 0.36 and 0.39, respectively, which was in the range of previously published estimates for those two traits in this species.ConclusionThose findings in a wild bird population demonstrate that telomere length at the end of the growth period is weakly, but significantly, determined by genetic and/or maternal factors taking place before hatching. However, we found no evidence that the brood size manipulation experiment, and by extension the early growth conditions, influenced nestling telomere length. The weak heritability of telomere length suggests a close association with fitness in natural populations.

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“…Recent studies have shown that the relationship between survival and absolute telomere length is not always similar between sexes, and this has been related to differences in selection pressure and environmental constraints between sexes (Foote et al . ; Olsson et al . , ; Barrett & Richardson ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Foote et al . ; Olsson et al . ,b), we predicted that males with relatively long telomere should have a higher return probability than those with short telomeres (prediction 4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere length, non‐breeding habitat and return rate in male American redstarts

et al. 2013

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Summary 1.Telomeres are long repetitive noncoding sequences of DNA located at the ends of chromosomes. Recently, the study of telomere dynamics has been increasingly used to investigate ecological questions. However, little is currently known about the relationships that link environmental conditions, telomere dynamics and fitness in wild vertebrates. 2. Using a small migratory bird (American redstart, Setophaga ruticilla), we investigated how telomere dynamics can be affected by non-breeding habitat quality and to what extent telomere length can predict the return rate of males. 3. We show that telomeres shorten in most individuals over a 1-year period and, importantly, that telomeres of individuals wintering in a low-quality habitat shorten more than those of individuals wintering in a high-quality habitat. 4. In addition, we found that longer telomeres are associated with a higher return rate than shorter telomeres, although the relationship between return rate and telomere length did not depend on habitat quality. 5. Our study suggests that telomere dynamics are affected by environmental conditions and are related to indices of fitness in a migratory bird species.

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Individual state and survival prospects: age, sex, and telomere length in a long-lived seabird

Cited by 35 publications

References 46 publications

Age, Sex, and Telomere Dynamics in a Long-Lived Seabird with Male-Biased Parental Care

Age, Sex, and Telomere Dynamics in a Long-Lived Seabird with Male-Biased Parental Care

Effects of brood size manipulation and common origin on phenotype and telomere length in nestling collared flycatchers

Telomere length, non‐breeding habitat and return rate in male American redstarts

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