Sex differences in adult lifespan and aging rates of mortality across wild mammals

In human populations, women consistently outlive men, which suggests profound biological foundations for sex differences in survival. Quantifying whether such sex differences are also pervasive in wild mammals is a crucial challenge in both evolutionary biology and biogerontology. Here, we compile d...

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Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 117; no. 15; pp. 8546 - 8553
Main Authors:	Lemaître, Jean-François, Ronget, Victor, Tidière, Morgane, Allainé, Dominique, Berger, Vérane, Cohas, Aurélie, Colchero, Fernando, Conde, Dalia A., Garratt, Michael, Liker, András, Marais, Gabriel A. B., Scheuerlein, Alexander, Székely, Tamás, Gaillard, Jean-Michel
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 14-04-2020
Subjects:	Aging Biological Sciences Environmental conditions Gender aspects Gender differences Human populations Life Sciences Life span Mammals Men Mortality Mortality patterns Populations Sex Sex differences Sexual selection senescence comparative analysis longevity life history sexual selection Life history Senescence Sexual selection Longevity Comparative analysis
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Summary:	In human populations, women consistently outlive men, which suggests profound biological foundations for sex differences in survival. Quantifying whether such sex differences are also pervasive in wild mammals is a crucial challenge in both evolutionary biology and biogerontology. Here, we compile demographic data from 134 mammal populations, encompassing 101 species, to show that the female’s median lifespan is on average 18.6% longer than that of conspecific males, whereas in humans the female advantage is on average 7.8%. On the contrary, we do not find any consistent sex differences in aging rates. In addition, sex differences in median adult lifespan and aging rates are both highly variable across species. Our analyses suggest that the magnitude of sex differences in mammalian mortality patterns is likely shaped by local environmental conditions in interaction with the sex-specific costs of sexual selection.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 1J.-F.L. and V.R. contributed equally to this work. Author contributions: J.-F.L., V.R., and J.-M.G. designed research; J.-F.L., V.R., M.T., F.C., and J.-M.G. designed and conducted the analyses; J.-F.L., V.R., M.T., D.A., V.B., A.C., F.C., D.A.C., M.G., A.L., G.A.B.M., A.S., T.S., and J.-M.G. collected the data; and J.-F.L., V.R., and J.-M.G. wrote the paper, with all authors providing input. Edited by Nils Chr. Stenseth, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and approved February 24, 2020 (received for review July 12, 2019)
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.1911999117