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Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories.

ABSTRACT: It has recently been proposed that life-history evolution is subject to a fundamental size-dependent constraint. This constraint limits the rate at which biomass can be produced so that production per unit of body mass is inevitably slower in larger organisms than in smaller ones. Here we derive predictions for how changes in body size and production rates evolve in different lifestyles subject to this constraint. Predictions are tested by using data on the mass of neonate tissue produced per adult per year in 637 placental mammal species and are generally supported. Compared with terrestrial insectivores with generalized primitive traits, mammals that have evolved more specialized lifestyles have divergent mass-specific production rates: (i) increased in groups that specialize on abundant and reliable foods: grazing and browsing herbivores (artiodactyls, lagomorphs, perissodactyls, and folivorous rodents) and flesh-eating marine mammals (pinnipeds, cetaceans); and (ii) decreased in groups that have lifestyles with reduced death rates: bats, primates, arboreal, fossorial, and desert rodents, bears, elephants, and rhinos. Convergent evolution of groups with similar lifestyles is common, so patterns of productivity across mammalian taxa reflect both ecology and phylogeny. The overall result is that groups with different lifestyles have parallel but offset relationships between production rate and body size. These results shed light on the evolution of the fast-slow life-history continuum, suggesting that variation occurs along two axes corresponding to body size and lifestyle.

SUBMITTER: Sibly RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2077039 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories.

Sibly Richard M RM Brown James H JH

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20071012 45

It has recently been proposed that life-history evolution is subject to a fundamental size-dependent constraint. This constraint limits the rate at which biomass can be produced so that production per unit of body mass is inevitably slower in larger organisms than in smaller ones. Here we derive predictions for how changes in body size and production rates evolve in different lifestyles subject to this constraint. Predictions are tested by using data on the mass of neonate tissue produced per ad ...[more]

PMID: 17940028

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Studying variation in life-history traits and correlated behaviours, such as boldness and foraging (i.e., pace-of-life syndrome), allows us to better understand how these traits evolve in a changing environment. In fish, it is particularly relevant studying the interplay of resource abundance and size-selection. These are two environmental stressors affecting fish in natural conditions, but also associated with human-induced environmental change. For instance, fishing, one of the most important threats for freshwater and marine populations, results in both higher mortality on large-sized fish and reduced population density. RESULTS:Medaka, Oryzias latipes, from lines selected for large or small size over ten generations, were exposed individually to high or low food availability from birth to adulthood. Maturation schedules, reproductive investment, growth, boldness and feeding were assessed to evaluate the effect of size-selection on the pace of life, and whether it differed between food contexts (high and low). Different food abundance and size-selection resulted in diverse life histories associated with different feeding and boldness behaviour, thus showing different pace-of-life-syndromes. High availability of food favoured faster growth, earlier maturation and increased shyness. Selection for small size led to slower growth in both males and females. But, the life-history trajectory to reach such growth was sex- and food-specific. Under low food conditions, females selected for small size showed earlier maturation, which led to slower adult growth and subsequent low willingness to feed, compared to females selected for large size. No line differences were found in females at high food conditions. In contrast, males exposed to selection for small size grew slower both as juvenile and adult, and were bolder under both feeding regimes. Therefore, the response to size-selection was more sensitive to food availability in females than in males. CONCLUSIONS:We showed that size-selection (over ten generations) and resource abundance (over developmental time) led to changes in life history and behaviour. However, the effect of size-selection was sex- and context-specific, calling for precaution when drawing general conclusions on the population-level effects (or lack of them) of size-selective fishing. Conservation and management plans should consider this sex- and context-specificity.

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Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories.

Publications

Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories.

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