Data from: Trait-dependent associations between early- and late-life reproduction in a wild mammal

Early- versus late-life trade-offs are a central prediction of
life-history theory that are expected to shape the evolution of ageing.
While ageing is widely observed in wild vertebrates, evidence that
early–late trade-offs influence ageing rates remains limited. Vertebrate
reproduction is a complex, multi-stage process, yet few studies have
examined how different aspects of early-life reproductive allocation shape
late-life performance and ageing. Here, we use longitudinal data from a
36-year study of wild Soay sheep to show that early-life reproduction
predicts late-life reproductive performance in a trait-dependent manner.
Females that started breeding earlier showed more rapid declines in annual
fecundity with age, consistent with a trade-off. However, age-related
declines in offspring first-year survival and birth weight were not
associated with early-life reproduction. Selective disappearance was
evident in all three late-life reproductive measures, with longer-lived
females having higher average performance. Our results provide mixed
support for early–late reproductive trade-offs and show that the way
early-life reproduction shapes late-life performance and ageing can differ
among reproductive traits.