Die young, live fast: is accelerated reproduction an adaptive response to early life adversity in wild baboons?
Wednesday, April 21st at 12pm EDT/18:00 CEST. Sign up here for the meeting link.
Join us for a conversation with Elizabeth Archie, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and Chelsea Weibel, PhD Student at the University of Notre Dame. If an individual can anticipate an early death, should they also “live fast”? Fast reproduction is often proposed to be an adaptive response to harsh conditions in early life because early adversity predicts shorter lifespans. Individuals who speed up reproduction after experiencing early adversity might therefore have higher fitness than those who do not. Using long-term data on natural population of baboons in Amboseli, Kenya, we tested if fast reproduction offers lifetime fitness advantages to females. Contrary to several influential hypotheses, females who experienced early adversity did not improve their fitness if they sped up reproduction. Our results raise doubts that accelerated reproduction is an adaptive response to early adversity in long lived, slow-reproducing species.Sign up here for the meeting link.
Call for graduate student presenters!
We’re excited to announce that we will be highlighting some of the exciting evolutionary medicine research done by late-stage graduate students at an upcoming Club EvMed! This is a fantastic opportunity to present your work virtually to the global evolutionary medicine community, get feedback, and initiate discussions and new connections.
Consider nominating yourself or someone else using this form. All nominations are due by Wednesday, May 5th for consideration. Three graduate students will be selected to present at an event tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 3rd.
Looking forward to your submissions! Brought to you by:
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