EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF LIFE SPAN

University Of California At Davis, Davis CA

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Abstract

The broad goal of this research is to extend our understanding of the determinants, patterns, and constraints that shape mortality within and across species. This project aims to extend evolutionary theories of mortality, and to bring hypotheses generated by this extended theory into confrontation with accurate longitudinal data on a range of species. The specific aims of this project are:(1) Assemble a database that will be unique in including (a) high-quality time series of individual observations on many natural populations of different species; (b) high quality data on captive breeding primates; (c) a large collection of estimated age or size specific demographic rates (many published, some not) on many species of plants and animals. (2) Analyze the database to estimate mortality hazards and age patterns of fertility. The project will analyze individual level covariation between survival and the timing and level of reproduction. The project will exploit long time series of data to estimate temporal variance in survival and reproduction, and covariances between life history components. These analyses will be carried out on individual data sets. The project will also carry out a range of comparative analyses in the context of previous studies on related groups of species. (3) Extend the theory of evolution in structured populations to develop testable hypotheses about the age pattern and correlation structure of mortality and fertility (and other life history components) and the maintenance of variation in these components. (4) Use the theoretical results to formulate testable hypotheses appropriate to the different populations in our database. Use the database to test and evaluate the theoretical hypotheses.