Life history

For a species to sustain its existence its individuals most survive, grow and reproduce at rates that can maintain viable populations. However, both physical and biological constraints along with limitations in resource availability mean that organisms must balance the resources they allocate to each of these vital components of their life history. For example, to have longer lifespans an organism must allocate energy towards survival at the expense of reproduction or growth.

Our previous work has demonstrated that longer lifespans are associated with larger animals and species with the ability to fly. Currently we are using demographic data from animal species across the tree of life to test how ecological mode-of-life drives the life history strategies.