Glen C George, Ponciano José Miguel, Gillooly James F, Torres-Sánchez María, Mustin Walter, Bolten Alan B, Bjorndal Karen A
Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
University of Florida, Department of Biology, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Commun Biol. 2025 Aug 28;8(1):1297. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-08717-1.
Recent work has shown testudines can escape actuarial senescence for extended periods. However, understanding how the interplay between somatic aging and reproductive investment in highly fecund, long-lived ectotherms align with broader phylogenetic patterns remains a critical knowledge gap. Here, we present a comprehensive demographic analysis of age-specific changes in reproduction and mortality using a unique dataset on captive, known-aged green sea turtles Chelonia mydas. Despite substantial intraspecific variation, cumulative egg production showed no decline, increasing linearly for over two decades. However, mortality patterns followed the Gompertz Law, increasing exponentially with age. These results demonstrate a significant decoupling between sustained reproductive performance and age-specific mortality, building on a body of work that challenges the notion of uniformly arrested senescence. Nevertheless, life history strategies across testudines, including sea turtles, produce similar aging rates and remain low relative to endothermic tetrapods, reflecting conserved life-history patterns.
近期研究表明，龟类能够在较长时间内避免生理性衰老。然而，对于高繁殖力、长寿的变温动物而言，体细胞衰老与生殖投入之间的相互作用如何与更广泛的系统发育模式相契合，仍是一个关键的知识空白。在此，我们利用关于圈养的、已知年龄的绿海龟（蠵龟）的独特数据集，对繁殖和死亡率的年龄特异性变化进行了全面的种群统计学分析。尽管种内存在显著差异，但累计产蛋量并未下降，在二十多年间呈线性增加。然而，死亡率模式遵循冈珀茨定律，随年龄呈指数增长。这些结果表明，持续的繁殖性能与年龄特异性死亡率之间存在显著脱钩，这基于一系列挑战均匀衰老停滞概念的研究。尽管如此，包括海龟在内的龟类的生活史策略产生了相似的衰老速率，相对于恒温四足动物而言仍然较低，这反映了保守的生活史模式。
