X. Draye et Fa. Lints, GEOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS OF LIFE-HISTORY STRATEGIES IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER .3. NEW DATA, Experimental gerontology, 31(6), 1996, pp. 717-733
A crucial assumption of evolutionary theories of aging is that age-spe
cific differences of life history traits may have genetic causes. The
present study focuses on the existence of such differences between eig
ht freshly caught populations of Drosophila melanogaster. A highly sig
nificant differentiation of the populations is observed, yet it accoun
ts for a relatively small part of the variance. It is also shown that
large discrepancies may be found between the estimations of fitness ba
sed, on the one hand, on data for egg production and, on the other han
d, on fertility data. This stresses the need for accurate measurements
of fitness for the assessment of evolutionary theories. Finally, the
results suggest that neither of the current evolutionary theories of a
ging is generally valid. Indeed, the age-specific differences that are
found between the populations match either the antagonistic pleiotrop
y mechanism, or the concordant pleiotropy mechanism, or none of them.
Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.