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EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION OF SENESCENCE: AN ANALYSIS USING A “HETEROGENEITY” MORTALITY MODEL
Author(s) -
Service Philip M.,
Michieli Charles A.,
McGill Kirsten
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1998.tb02262.x
Subject(s) - biology , senescence , life span , natural selection , selection (genetic algorithm) , evolutionary biology , demography , longevity , ecology , genetics , population , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science
A long‐term laboratory selection experiment has produced replicated populations of fruit flies that differ in mean life span by more than twofold. An analysis of age‐specific mortality rates indicated that differences in mean life span have been achieved principally by evolution of patterns of senescence. These results provide empirical confirmation that senescence can be modified within species by appropriate forms of natural selection, which is a fundamental prediction of theories regarding the genetic basis and evolution of senescence. Mortality data were fit to a model that accounts for the leveling off of cohort mortality rates at older ages, but that does not necessarily imply that very old individuals cease to senesce.