Journal
AMERICAN NATURALIST
Volume 199, Issue 3, Pages 436-442Publisher
UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
DOI: 10.1086/718236
Keywords
Lansing effect; maternal effect; paternal effect; senescence; selective disappearance; survival
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Parental age at reproduction can influence offspring performance and life span in insects, with increased paternal age found to somewhat increase sons' adult life span in the antler fly study.
In many species, parental age at reproduction can influence offspring performance and life span, but the direction of these effects and the traits affected vary among studies. Data on parental age effects are still scarce in noncaptive populations, especially insects, despite species such as fruit flies being models in laboratory-based aging research. We performed a biologically relevant experimental manipulation of maternal and paternal age at reproduction of antler flies (Protopiophila litigata) in the laboratory and tracked the adult life span and reproductive success of their male offspring released in the wild. Increased paternal, but not maternal, age somewhat increased sons' adult life span, while parental ages did not influence sons' mating rate or reproductive senescence. Our results indicate that while parental age effects do exist in an insect in the field, they may be beneficial in such a short-lived animal, in contrast to results from most wild vertebrates and laboratory invertebrates.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available