Evidence of reduced individual heterogeneity in adult survival of long-lived species. (1st December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Péron, Guillaume; Gaillard, Jean-Michel; Barbraud, Christophe; Bonenfant, Christophe; Charmantier, Anne; Choquet, Rémi; Coulson, Tim; Grosbois, Vladimir; Loison, Anne; Marzolin, Gilbert; Owen-Smith, Norman; Pardo, Déborah; Plard, Floriane; Pradel, Roger; Toïgo, Carole; Gimenez, Olivier
• Is Part Of: Evolution. Volume 70:Number 12(2016)
• Page Start: 2909
• Page End: 2914
• Publication Date: 2016-12-01
• Subjects: Capture-recapture -- comparative analyses -- individual differences -- life-history evolution -- mixture models -- random-effect models -- vertebrates; Evolution -- Periodicals; Heredity -- Periodicals; Évolution (Biologie) -- Périodiques; Hérédité -- Périodiques; 338.47004094
• DOI: 10.1111/evo.13098
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-3820

Abstract

Abstract: The canalization hypothesis postulates that the rate at which trait variation generates variation in the average individual fitness in a population determines how buffered traits are against environmental and genetic factors. The ranking of a species on the slow-fast continuum – the covariation among life-history traits describing species-specific life cycles along a gradient going from a long life, slow maturity, and low annual reproductive output, to a short life, fast maturity, and high annual reproductive output – strongly correlates with the relative fitness impact of a given amount of variation in adult survival. Under the canalization hypothesis, long-lived species are thus expected to display less individual heterogeneity in survival at the onset of adulthood, when reproductive values peak, than short-lived species. We tested this life-history prediction by analysing long-term time series of individual-based data in nine species of birds and mammals using capture-recapture models. We found that individual heterogeneity in survival was higher in species with short-generation time (< 3 years) than in species with long generation time (> 4 years). Our findings provide the first piece of empirical evidence for the canalization hypothesis at the individual level from the wild.