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Evaluating the contributions of change in investment and change in efficiency to age‐related declines in male and female reproduction
Author(s) -
Auld J. R.,
Jarne P.,
Sarda V.,
JourdanPineau H.,
Lamy T.,
Pélissié B.,
David P.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/jeb.12435
Subject(s) - biology , reproduction , offspring , inefficiency , senescence , fertility , investment (military) , longevity , semelparity and iteroparity , reproductive value , ecology , demography , population , economics , pregnancy , genetics , sociology , politics , political science , law , microeconomics , microbiology and biotechnology
It is commonly observed that reproduction decreases with age, often at a different rate in males and females. This phenomenon is generally interpreted as senescence. Such reproductive declines may stem from at least two sources: a change in resource allocation and a decline in the ability to convert resources into offspring. This distinction is important because a shift in resource allocation may be favoured by selection, while reduced efficiency is purely deleterious. We propose a way to distinguish whether a decline in reproduction is purely deleterious based on estimating reproductive investment, output, and their ratio, efficiency. We apply this approach to the hermaphroditic snail P hysa acuta and demonstrate that both male and female functions decline with age. The male decline largely stems from reduced investment into male activity while female decline is due to increased reproductive inefficiency. This shows that age‐related declines in reproduction can occur for a number of different reasons, a distinction that is usually masked by the general term ‘senescence’. This approach could be applied to any species to evaluate age‐related reproductive decline. We advocate that future studies measure age trajectories of reproductive investment and output to explore the potential processes hidden behind the observation that reproduction declines with age.