The Evolution of Senescence in the Tree of Life

Top researchers in the field introduce interdisciplinary perspectives on senescence, presenting new insights and cutting-edge research.

Richard P. Shefferson (Edited by), Owen R. Jones (Edited by), Roberto Salguero-Gómez (Edited by)

9781107078505, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 February 2017

441 pages, 51 b/w illus. 16 tables
25.8 x 17.9 x 2.7 cm, 1 kg

The existing theories on the evolution of senescence assume that senescence is inevitable in all organisms. However, recent studies have shown that this is not necessarily true. A better understanding of senescence and its underlying mechanisms could have far-reaching consequences for conservation and eco-evolutionary research. This book is the first to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on the evolution of senescence in many species, setting the stage for further developments. It brings together new insights from a wide range of scientific fields and cutting-edge research done on a multitude of different animals (including humans), plants and microbes, giving the reader a complete overview of recent developments and of the controversies currently surrounding the topic. Written by specialists from a variety of disciplines, this book is a valuable source of information for students and researchers interested in ageing and life history traits and populations.

1. Introduction: wilting leaves and rotting branches: reconciling evolutionary perspectives on senescence Richard P. Shefferson, Owen R. Jones and Roberto Salguero-Gómez
Part I. Theory of Senescence: 2. The disposable soma theory - origins and evolution Thomas B. L. Kirkwood
3. A Hamiltonian demography of life history Michael R. Rose, Lee F. Greer, Kevin H. Phung, Grant A. Rutledge, Mark A. Phillips, Christian N. K. Anderson and Laurence D. Mueller
4. Senescence, selection gradients, and mortality Hal Caswell and Esther Shyu
5. Taxonomic diversity, complexity, and the evolution of senescence Alan A. Cohen
Part II. Senescence in Animals: 6. Evolutionary demography of the human mortality profile Oskar Burger
7. Senescence in mammalian life history traits Jean-Michel Gaillard, Michael Garratt and Jean-François Lemaître
8. Avian escape artists? Patterns, processes and costs of senescence in wild birds Sandra Bouwhuis and Oscar Vedder
9. The evolution of senescence in nature Andre Furness and David Reznick
10. Explaining extraordinary lifespans: the proximate and ultimate causes of differential lifespan in social insects Eric Lucas and Laurent Keller
11. Senescence in modular animals - botryllid ascidians as a unique ageing system Baruch Rinkevich
12. Hydra: evolutionary and biological mechanisms for non-senescence Ralf Schaible, Felix Ringelhan, Boris H. Kramer and Alexander Scheuerlein
Part III. Senescence in Plants: 13. Physiological and biochemical processes related to ageing and senescence in plants Maurizio Mencuccini and Sergi Munné-Bosch
14. The evolution of senescence in annual plants: the importance of phenology and the potential for plasticity Liana T. Burghardt and C. Jessica E. Metcalf
15. Demographic senescence in herbaceous plants Johan P. Dahlgren and Deborah A. Roach
16. Complex life histories and senescence in plants: avenues to escape age-related decline? Jennifer Gremer, Satu Ramula, Bård Pedersen, Elizabeth Crone, Peter Lesica, Anne Jäkäläniemi and Juha Tuomi
Part IV. Senescence in Microbes: 17. Why some fungi senescence and others don't: an evolutionary perspective on fungal senescence Marc F. P. M. Maas, Alfons J. M. Debets, Bas J. Zwaan and Anne D. van Diepeningen
18. Yeast ageing: reproduction strategies determine the longevity of budding and fission yeasts Tomasz Bilinski and Renata Zadrag-Tecza
19. Organismal senescence in plant-fungal symbioses Richard P. Shefferson and Charles C. Cowden
Part V. Senescence across the Tree of Life: 20. Life history trade-offs modulate the speed of senescence Roberto Salguero-Gómez and Owen R. Jones.

Subject Areas: Applied ecology [RNC], Palaeontology [RBX], Evolution [PSAJ], Biology, life sciences [PS], Physical anthropology [JHMP], Population & demography [JHBD]