Peer-reviewed papers included in topic model of old animal ecology and conservation

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.  

Methods
See Supplementary Methods in Science paper

地球老龄动物种群正持续衰退。尽管如此，新兴研究正逐步揭示老龄个体在文化传承（cultural transmission）、种群动态（population dynamics）以及生态系统过程与服务（ecosystem processes and services）中发挥的关键作用。老龄个体通常体型最为庞大、经验最为丰富，既深受人类珍视，也在繁殖、信息获取与文化传承、营养级动态（trophic dynamics），以及应对自然与人为干扰（anthropogenic disturbance）的抗性和恢复力方面作出重要贡献。

上述观测结果与一个多世纪以来主导学界的衰老聚焦型老龄研究范式（senescence-focused paradigm）相悖，但与行为生态学（behavioral ecology）和生活史理论（life-history theory）的研究发现高度契合。本文综述了全球老龄个体流失为何会对三类物种造成尤为显著的危害：一是具备不定生长（indeterminate growth）模式、繁殖产出随年龄增长而提升的长寿动物，二是依赖迁徙、社会性与文化传承维持生存的物种。亟需开展长寿保护工作，以保护老龄动物所提供的重要生态功能与生态系统服务。

方法
详见《Science》期刊论文的补充材料