Kopf R Keller, Banks Sam, Brent Lauren J N, Humphries Paul, Jolly Chris J, Lee Phyllis C, Luiz Osmar J, Nimmo Dale, Winemiller Kirk O
Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Science. 2025 Jan 3;387(6729):eado2705. doi: 10.1126/science.ado2705.
Earth's old animals are in decline. Despite this, emerging research is revealing the vital contributions of older individuals to cultural transmission, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes and services. Often the largest and most experienced, old individuals are most valued by humans and make important contributions to reproduction, information acquisition and cultural transmission, trophic dynamics, and resistance and resilience to natural and anthropogenic disturbance. These observations contrast with the senescence-focused paradigm of old age that has dominated the literature for more than a century yet are consistent with findings from behavioral ecology and life history theory. In this work, we review why the global loss of old individuals can be particularly detrimental to long-lived animals with indeterminate growth; those with increasing reproductive output with age; and those dependent on migration, sociality, and cultural transmission for survival. Longevity conservation is needed to protect the important ecological roles and ecosystem services provided by old animals.
地球上的老龄动物数量正在减少。尽管如此,新出现的研究正在揭示老龄个体对文化传播、种群动态以及生态系统过程和服务的重要贡献。老龄个体通常体型最大且经验最丰富,最受人类重视,并对繁殖、信息获取与文化传播、营养动态以及对自然和人为干扰的抵抗力和恢复力做出重要贡献。这些观察结果与主导了一个多世纪文献的以衰老为重点的老年范式形成对比,但与行为生态学和生活史理论的研究结果一致。在这项工作中,我们探讨了为何全球老龄个体数量的减少对具有不确定生长的长寿动物、繁殖力随年龄增长的动物以及依赖迁徙、社会性和文化传播以求生存的动物可能尤其有害。需要进行长寿保护,以保护老龄动物所提供的重要生态作用和生态系统服务。