Data from: Senescence and early-life performance as predictors of lifespan in a solitary bee

Performance tends to decline with age, including muscle function and
stress tolerance. Yet, performance can vary widely among individuals
within the same age group, showing that chronological age does not always
represent biological age. To better understand ageing, we need to examine
what drives some individuals to age faster than others. In order to
achieve this, first we need to be able to predict whether an individual
will have a long or short lifespan. In this study, we conducted a
longitudinal study tracking individual-level locomotor activity,
chill-coma recovery time, and metabolic rates, and assessed whether
early-life performance is linked to lifespan using the solitary bee
Megachile rotundata. We found that locomotor activity and chill-coma
recovery times decline in old adults. However, resting metabolic rate did
not change with age. We also found low cold tolerance and low mass at
emergence in early-life are linked to shorter female lifespans, showing
that early-life performance can explain some of the variation in lifespan
in a population. Finally, these results also show that not all traits
decline with age within the same species, and shed new light on sexual
dimorphism in physiological traits and ageing.