Is basal metabolic rate influenced by age in a long-lived seabird, the snow petrel?

Abstract

SUMMARY Ageing is associated with a decline in basal metabolic rate (BMR) in many species, including humans. The evolutionary and physiological causes underlying the relationship between age and BMR are poorly understood. Studies of procellariiform seabirds may provide valuable insight because they have a longer maximum lifespan than expected from their body size and rates of energy metabolism. Such studies are rare, however, because there are few populations with a high proportion of individuals of known age. We performed a cross-sectional study of energy metabolism in relation to age in a long-lived seabird, the snow petrel Pagodroma nivea. In an Antarctic population that has been subject to a long-term research program,including annual banding of chicks since 1963, we measured BMR of individuals aged between 8 and 39 years. We show that the BMR of the snow petrel does not decrease with increasing age. BMR seems to be sustained at a fixed level throughout the investigated age-span. We review this result in light of the disposable soma theory of ageing, and we discuss whether species-specific relationships between age and basal metabolic rate can be related to differences in maximum lifespan.

Effect of dietary restriction on metabolic, anatomic and molecular traits in mice depends on the initial level of basal metabolic rate (BMR)

“…Speakman et al, 2003;Ruggiero et al, 2008;Moe et al, 2009), whereas others found no BMR change (e.g. O'Connor et al, 2002;Chappell et al, 2003;Moe et al, 2007). None of these studies considered the initial level of MR, which, as we have shown here, can significantly affect the responses to DR and age-related changes (i.e.…”

Metabolic ageing in individual zebra finches

“…Short-lived species with a fast life history and high extrinsic mortality (e.g. from predation, contagious disease, starvation, weatherrelated stress) are expected to invest less in mechanisms for somatic maintenance and repair, compared with long-lived species (Kirkwood & Rose 1991;Moe et al 2007). The ageing process is therefore expected to be faster in these species.…”

“…The ageing process is therefore expected to be faster in these species. In this perspective, the BMR-age relationship may reflect the degree of investment in somatic maintenance and repair (Speakman et al 2003;Moe et al 2007). The comparative evolutionary explanations for metabolic ageing, as well as the mechanistic explanations, clearly deserve further study.…”

“…Even et al 2001), dogs (Speakman et al 2003) and some species of birds (Broggi et al 2007). However, other studies on birds, naked mole rats and mice did not report any age-related decline in BMR (see references in Moe et al 2007). Most of these studies are cross-sectional, which confounds estimates of within-individual changes when there is disproportionate mortality (also known as 'selective disappearance').…”

A long life in the fast lane: positive association between peak metabolic rate and lifespan in a butterfly

“…Metabolic senescence has been described in humans (Roberts and Rosenberg, 2006) and laboratory animals such as rats (Even et al, 2001), but its occurrence is not necessarily widespread, especially in the wild. Longitudinal studies on relatively long-lived vertebrates are rare and although some studies have detected metabolic senescence (Broggi et al, 2010), others have found no signs of it (Moe et al, 2007). The few studies that have looked into insect metabolic senescence have produced mixed results.…”