Evidence of reduced individual heterogeneity in adult survival of long-lived species.
The canalization hypothesis postulates that the rate at which trait variation generates variation in the average individual fitness in a population determines how buffered traits are against environmental and genetic factors. The ranking of a species on the slow-fast continuum - the covariation among life-history traits describing species-specific life cycles along a gradient going from a long life, slow maturity, and low annual reproductive output, to a short life, fast maturity, and high annual reproductive output - strongly correlates with the relative fitness impact of a given amount of variation in adult survival. Under the canalization hypothesis, long-lived species are thus expected to display less individual heterogeneity in survival at the onset of adulthood, when reproductive values peak, than short-lived species. We tested this life-history prediction by analysing long-term time series of individual-based data in nine species of birds and mammals using capture-recapture models. We found that individual heterogeneity in survival was higher in species with short-generation time (< 3 years) than in species with long generation time (> 4 years). Our findings provide the first piece of empirical evidence for the canalization hypothesis at the individual level from the wild.
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, 22630.|UMR CNRS 5558-LBBE "Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, " UCB Lyon 1-Bât. Grégor Mendel, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France.
Guillaume
G
Péron
UMR CNRS 5558-LBBE "Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, " UCB Lyon 1-Bât. Grégor Mendel, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France.
Jean-Michel
JM
Gaillard
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé UMR 7372 CNRS/Université La Rochelle, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France.
Christophe
C
Barbraud
UMR CNRS 5558-LBBE "Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, " UCB Lyon 1-Bât. Grégor Mendel, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France.
Christophe
C
Bonenfant
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Anne
A
Charmantier
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Rémi
R
Choquet
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Tim
T
Coulson
UR AGIRs-Animal et Gestion Intégrée des Risques, TA C 22/E Campus International Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Vladimir
V
Grosbois
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, Université de Savoie Mont-Blanc, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France.|Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, CNRS, 38000, Grenoble, France.
Anne
A
Loison
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Gilbert
G
Marzolin
Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa.
Norman
N
Owen-Smith
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Déborah
D
Pardo
UMR CNRS 5558-LBBE "Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, " UCB Lyon 1-Bât. Grégor Mendel, 69622, Villeurbanne cedex, France.|Swiss Ornithological Institute, CH-6204 Sempach, Switzerland.
Floriane
F
Plard
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Roger
R
Pradel
ONCFS-Unité Faune de Montagne, 5 allée de Bethléem, Z.I. de Mayencin, 38610, Gières, France.
Carole
C
Toïgo
CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
Olivier
O
Gimenez
D000818:Animals; D001188:Artiodactyla / Q000502:physiology*; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D008136:Longevity; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013045:Species Specificity
Capture-recapture; comparative analyses; individual differences; life-history evolution; mixture models; random-effect models; vertebrates