Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis

Background Most common terrestrial animal clades exhibit senescence, suggesting strong adaptive value of this trait. However, there is little support for senescence correlated with specific adaptations. Nevertheless, insects, mammals, and birds, which are the most common terrestrial animal clades th...

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Autores principales:	Tomasz Bilinski, Aneta Bylak, Krzysztof Kukuła, Renata Zadrag-Tecza
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:	Senescence Aging Longevity Energy Life program Growth Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d88a721cf5f54b32a053778775661470
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d88a721cf5f54b32a0537787756614702021-11-04T15:05:09ZSenescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis10.7717/peerj.122862167-8359https://doaj.org/article/d88a721cf5f54b32a0537787756614702021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://peerj.com/articles/12286.pdfhttps://peerj.com/articles/12286/https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359Background Most common terrestrial animal clades exhibit senescence, suggesting strong adaptive value of this trait. However, there is little support for senescence correlated with specific adaptations. Nevertheless, insects, mammals, and birds, which are the most common terrestrial animal clades that show symptoms of senescence, evolved from clades that predominantly did not show symptoms of senescence. Thus, we aimed to examine senescence in the context of the ecology and life histories of the main clades of animals, including humans, and to formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and origin of senescence in the major clades of terrestrial animals. Methodology We reviewed literature from 1950 to 2020 concerning life expectancy, the existence of senescence, and the adaptive characteristics of the major groups of animals. We then proposed a relationship between senescence and environmental factors, considering the biology of these groups of animals. We constructed a model showing the phylogenetic relationships between animal clades in the context of the major stages of evolution, distinguishing between senescent and biologically ‘immortal’ clades of animals. Finally, we synthesised current data on senescence with the most important concepts and theories explaining the origin and mechanisms of senescence. Although this categorisation into different senescent phenotypes may be simplistic, we used this to propose a framework for understanding senescence. Results We found that terrestrial mammals, insects, and birds show senescence, even though they likely evolved from non-senescent ancestors. Moreover, secondarily aquatic animals show lower rate of senescence than their terrestrial counterparts. Based on the possible life histories of these groups and the analysis of the most important factors affecting the transition from a non-senescent to senescent phenotype, we conclude that aging has evolved, not as a direct effect, but as a correlated response of selection on developmental strategies, and that this occurred separately within each clade. Adoption of specific life history strategies could thus have far-reaching effects in terms of senescence and lifespan. Conclusions Our analysis strongly suggests that senescence may have emerged as a side effect of the evolution of adaptive features that allowed the colonisation of land. Senescence in mammals may be a compromise between land colonisation and longevity. This hypothesis, is supported by palaeobiological and ecological evidence. We hope that the development of new research methodologies and the availability of more data could be used to test this hypothesis and shed greater light on the evolution of senescence.Tomasz BilinskiAneta BylakKrzysztof KukułaRenata Zadrag-TeczaPeerJ Inc.articleSenescenceAgingLongevityEnergyLife programGrowthMedicineRENPeerJ, Vol 9, p e12286 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Senescence Aging Longevity Energy Life program Growth Medicine R
spellingShingle	Senescence Aging Longevity Energy Life program Growth Medicine R Tomasz Bilinski Aneta Bylak Krzysztof Kukuła Renata Zadrag-Tecza Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
description	Background Most common terrestrial animal clades exhibit senescence, suggesting strong adaptive value of this trait. However, there is little support for senescence correlated with specific adaptations. Nevertheless, insects, mammals, and birds, which are the most common terrestrial animal clades that show symptoms of senescence, evolved from clades that predominantly did not show symptoms of senescence. Thus, we aimed to examine senescence in the context of the ecology and life histories of the main clades of animals, including humans, and to formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and origin of senescence in the major clades of terrestrial animals. Methodology We reviewed literature from 1950 to 2020 concerning life expectancy, the existence of senescence, and the adaptive characteristics of the major groups of animals. We then proposed a relationship between senescence and environmental factors, considering the biology of these groups of animals. We constructed a model showing the phylogenetic relationships between animal clades in the context of the major stages of evolution, distinguishing between senescent and biologically ‘immortal’ clades of animals. Finally, we synthesised current data on senescence with the most important concepts and theories explaining the origin and mechanisms of senescence. Although this categorisation into different senescent phenotypes may be simplistic, we used this to propose a framework for understanding senescence. Results We found that terrestrial mammals, insects, and birds show senescence, even though they likely evolved from non-senescent ancestors. Moreover, secondarily aquatic animals show lower rate of senescence than their terrestrial counterparts. Based on the possible life histories of these groups and the analysis of the most important factors affecting the transition from a non-senescent to senescent phenotype, we conclude that aging has evolved, not as a direct effect, but as a correlated response of selection on developmental strategies, and that this occurred separately within each clade. Adoption of specific life history strategies could thus have far-reaching effects in terms of senescence and lifespan. Conclusions Our analysis strongly suggests that senescence may have emerged as a side effect of the evolution of adaptive features that allowed the colonisation of land. Senescence in mammals may be a compromise between land colonisation and longevity. This hypothesis, is supported by palaeobiological and ecological evidence. We hope that the development of new research methodologies and the availability of more data could be used to test this hypothesis and shed greater light on the evolution of senescence.
format	article
author	Tomasz Bilinski Aneta Bylak Krzysztof Kukuła Renata Zadrag-Tecza
author_facet	Tomasz Bilinski Aneta Bylak Krzysztof Kukuła Renata Zadrag-Tecza
author_sort	Tomasz Bilinski
title	Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
title_short	Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
title_full	Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
title_fullStr	Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
title_full_unstemmed	Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
title_sort	senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis
publisher	PeerJ Inc.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d88a721cf5f54b32a053778775661470
work_keys_str_mv	AT tomaszbilinski senescenceasatradeoffbetweensuccessfullandcolonisationandlongevitycriticalreviewandanalysisofahypothesis AT anetabylak senescenceasatradeoffbetweensuccessfullandcolonisationandlongevitycriticalreviewandanalysisofahypothesis AT krzysztofkukuła senescenceasatradeoffbetweensuccessfullandcolonisationandlongevitycriticalreviewandanalysisofahypothesis AT renatazadragtecza senescenceasatradeoffbetweensuccessfullandcolonisationandlongevitycriticalreviewandanalysisofahypothesis
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Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis

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