Volume 23 - Article 23 | Pages 655-668
Senescence vs. sustenance: Evolutionary-demographic models of aging
| Date received: | 20 Oct 2009 |
| Date published: | 28 Sep 2010 |
| Word count: | 1884 |
| Keywords: | aging, eusociality, evolution, fertility, hydra, mortality, senescence, sustenance |
| DOI: | 10.4054/DemRes.2010.23.23 |
Abstract
Humans, and many other species, suffer senescence: mortality increases and fertility declines with adult age. Some species, however, enjoy sustenance: mortality and fertility remain constant. Here we develop simple but general evolutionary-demographic models to explain the conditions that favor senescence vs. sustenance. The models illustrate how mathematical demography can deepen understanding of the evolution of aging.
Author's Affiliation
Annette Baudisch - Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany
James Vaupel - Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany
Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research
»
The difference between alternative averages
Volume 27 - Article 15
»
How life expectancy varies with perturbations in age-specific mortality
Volume 27 - Article 13
»
Attrition in heterogeneous cohorts
Volume 23 - Article 26
»
Total daily change with age equals average lifetime change
Volume 22 - Article 36
»
Survival as a Function of Life Expectancy
Volume 21 - Article 29
»
The age separating early deaths from late deaths
Volume 20 - Article 29
»
Life lived and left: Carey’s equality
Volume 20 - Article 3
»
Formal Relationships: Introduction and Orientation
Volume 20 - Article 1
»
The relative tail of longevity and the mean remaining lifetime
Volume 14 - Article 7
»
Lifesaving, lifetimes and lifetables
Volume 13 - Article 24
»
Oldest Old Mortality in China
Volume 8 - Article 7
»
Life Expectancy at Current Rates vs. Current Conditions: A Reflexion Stimulated by Bongaarts and Feeney’s "How Long Do We Live?"
Volume 7 - Article 8
»
Decomposing demographic change into direct vs. compositional components
Volume 7 - Article 1
»
Dr. Väinö Kannisto: A Reflexion
Volume 6 - Article 5
Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research
»
Top-down and bottom-up research in biodemography
Volume 19 - Article 44 | Keywords: aging, evolution
»
The implications of long term community involvement for the production and circulation of population knowledge
Volume 17 - Article 13 | Keywords: fertility, mortality
»
Demographic translation and tempo effects: An accelerated failure time perspective
Volume 14 - Article 6 | Keywords: fertility, mortality
»
The Netherlands:Paradigm or Exception in Western Europe’s Demography?
Volume 7 - Article 12 | Keywords: fertility, mortality
»
Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
Volume 28 - Article 34 | Keywords: fertility
Articles
Citations
Download to Citation Manager
Similar Articles
PubMed
Google Scholar