| Autor: |
Kopf RK; Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia., Banks S; Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia., Brent LJN; Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK., Humphries P; School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences and Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia., Jolly CJ; Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.; School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia., Lee PC; Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Langata, Nairobi, Kenya.; Behaviour and Evolution Research Group, Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK., Luiz OJ; Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia., Nimmo D; School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences and Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia., Winemiller KO; Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
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 over a century yet are consistent with findings from behavioral ecology and life-history theory. Here, we review why the global loss of old individuals can be particularly detrimental to long-lived animals with indeterminate growth, 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 an ecosystem services provided by old animals. |
