IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v389y1997i6654d10.1038_40130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Extraordinary lifespans in ants: a test of evolutionary theories of ageing

Author

Listed:
  • Laurent Keller

    (Institute of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University of Lausanne
    Institute of Zoology, University of Bern)

  • Michel Genoud

    (Institute of Zoology, University of Bern)

Abstract

Senescence presents not only a medical problem, but also an evolutionary paradox because it should be opposed by natural selection. Evolutionary hypotheses propose that ageing evolves as the necessary cost of processes increasing early reproductive success1,2, or because of weaker selection against late-acting mutations3. A prediction of these hypotheses is that the rate of ageing should increase and the average lifespan decrease as therate of extrinsic mortality increases1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Alternatively, non-adaptive, purely mechanistic hypotheses invoke damage to DNA, cells, tissues and organs as being the unique cause of senescence and ineluctable death of organisms8. Here we show that the evolution of eusociality is associated with a 100-fold increase in insect lifespan. Such an increase is predicted by evolutionary theories because termite, bee and ant queens live in colonies that are sheltered and heavily defended against predators. Moreover, a comparison of ants with contrasting life histories also reveals an association between lifespan and extrinsic rate of mortality. Theseresults provide strong support for evolutionary theories of ageing, as purely mechanistic hypotheses of senescence do not propose any association between the rate of extrinsic mortality and lifespans.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurent Keller & Michel Genoud, 1997. "Extraordinary lifespans in ants: a test of evolutionary theories of ageing," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6654), pages 958-960, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6654:d:10.1038_40130
    DOI: 10.1038/40130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/40130
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/40130?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Éric Le Bourg, 2001. "A mini-review of the evolutionary theories of aging," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 4(1), pages 1-28.
    2. Geerat Vermeij, 2009. "Comparative economics: evolution and the modern economy," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 105-134, August.
    3. Bonsall, Michael B. & Mangel, Marc, 2009. "Density dependence, lifespan and the evolutionary dynamics of longevity," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 46-55.
    4. Akiko Koto & Makoto Tamura & Pui Shan Wong & Sachiyo Aburatani & Eyal Privman & Céline Stoffel & Alessandro Crespi & Sean Keane McKenzie & Christine Mendola & Tomas Kay & Laurent Keller, 2023. "Social isolation shortens lifespan through oxidative stress in ants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Annette Baudisch & James W. Vaupel, 2009. "Senescence vs. sustenance: evolutionary-demographic models of aging," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-040, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6654:d:10.1038_40130. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.