title: Evolutionary shaping of demographic schedules.
abstract: Evolutionary processes of natural selection may be expected to leave their mark on age patterns of survival and reproduction. Demographic theory includes three main strands--mutation accumulation, stochastic vitality, and optimal life histories. This paper reviews the three strands and, concentrating on mutation accumulation, extends a mathematical result with broad implications concerning the effect of interactions between small age-specific effects of deleterious mutant alleles. Empirical data from genomic sequencing along with prospects for combining strands of theory hold hope for future progress.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Demography,Statistics, and wachter@demog.berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Kenneth W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Wachter
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3TG, England.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steinsaltz
authors.affiliation: Statistics, andMathematics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and.
authors.forename: Steven N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics; D000483:Alleles; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: biodemography; evolutionary demography; genetic load; hazard functions; senescence