Abstract
The trade-off between survival and reproduction is fundamental to life history theory. Sexual selection is expected to favour a ‘live fast die young’ life history pattern in males due to increased risk of extrinsic mortality associated with obtaining mates. Sexual conflict may also drive a genetic trade-off between reproduction and lifespan in females. We found significant additive genetic variance in longevity independent of lifetime mating frequency, and in early life mating frequency. There was significant negative genetic covariance between these traits indicating that females from families characterized by high levels of multiple mating early in life die sooner than females that engage in less intense early life mating. Thus, despite heritable variation in both traits, their independent evolution is constrained by an evolutionary trade-off. Our findings indicate that, in addition to the well-known male-driven direct costs of mating on female lifespan (mediated by male harassment and harmful effects of seminal fluids), females with a genetic propensity to mate multiply live shorter lives. We discuss the potential role of sexual conflict in driving the evolutionary trade-off between reproduction and lifespan in Drosophila. More generally, our data show that, like males, females can exhibit a live fast die young life history strategy.
Highlights
The trade-off between survival and reproduction is fundamental to life history theory
The trade-off between survival and reproduction has long been recognised as a prominent feature of life history trajectories, and it is well established that reproduction reduces lifespan in many species[7]
In support of this hypothesis, male crickets selected for decreased lifespan increase early reproductive performance, whereas female longevity was reduced without influencing their reproductive success[19]
Summary
The trade-off between survival and reproduction is fundamental to life history theory. The Disposable Soma theory suggests that trade-offs result from the partitioning of finite resources between growth, maintenance and reproduction[5] These trade-offs are important because they enable the accumulation of alleles with deleterious effects that are only expressed late in life (mutation accumulation2) and/or cause antagonistic pleiotropic effects on alleles, where genes that have positive effects on fitness early in life have deleterious effects on later survival (antagonistic pleiotropy[3]). Because females are limited by the time and energy requirements for offspring production, selection acting on females is expected to promote low risk, low wear and tear strategies with moderate rates of return over extended time periods[16] In support of this hypothesis, male crickets selected for decreased lifespan increase early reproductive performance (calling), whereas female longevity was reduced without influencing their reproductive success[19]
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