Ecological Drivers of Longevity in Squamates and the Tuatara
Global Ecology and Biogeography, (Global Ecol. Biogeogr.) (2015) 24, 396–405 bs_bs_banner RESEARCH Late bloomers and baby boomers: PAPER ecological drivers of longevity in squamates and the tuatara Inon Scharf1*, Anat Feldman1, Maria Novosolov1, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso2, Indraneil Das3, Monika Böhm4, Peter Uetz5, Omar Torres-Carvajal6, Aaron Bauer7,UriRoll8 and Shai Meiri1* 1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life ABSTRACT Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, Aim Longevity is an important life-history trait, directly linked to the core attrib- 2Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology of Adaptations, School of Life Sciences, University utes of fitness (reproduction and survival), yet large-scale comparative studies of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK, 3Institute of quantifying its implications for the ecology and life history of ectotherms are Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, scarce. We tested the allometry of longevity in squamates and the tuatara, and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota determined how longevity is related to key environmental characteristics and life- Samarahan, Malaysia, 4Institute of Zoology, history traits. Predictions based on life-history theory are expected to hold true for Zoological Society of London, London, UK, ectotherms, similarly to mammals and birds. 5Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Location World-wide. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA, 6Escuela de Ciencias Methods We assembled from the literature a dataset of the maximum longevities Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad
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