Journal
EXPERIMENTAL GERONTOLOGY
Volume 38, Issue 7, Pages 741-745Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0531-5565(03)00101-3
Keywords
birds; fertility; life history; mammals; post-reproductive life span; reproductive aging
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Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [R01 AG20263-01] Funding Source: Medline
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We have analyzed birth records from the International Species Inventory System database of zoo animals to describe patterns of fertility as a function of age in birds and mammals. Unlike age at death, fertility in captive populations is partly controlled by animal keepers depending on availability of space and potential mates and on the aims of captive propagation programs. Thus, fertility records must be considered carefully to avoid potential age-specific biases. The zoo data suggest that fertility declines from a peak at young adult ages in most species. The rate of decline in reproductive function is correlated with the rate of somatic aging, indicated by the increase in mortality rate with age, and with the age at peak fertility. Over the sample as a whole, these patterns do not differ systematically between the sexes, nor do they differ between birds and mammals. While it is clear that the demographic consequences of aging of the reproductive system follow a different course than the aging of somatic tissue, the rates of each are correlated either through functional connections or through parallel evolutionary responses to common selective factors. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
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