Capture-recapture data with partially known birth date in four populations of yellow-bellied toads

1.    Patterns of actuarial senescence can be highly
variable among species. Previous comparative analyses revealed that both
age at the onset of senescence and rates of senescence are linked to
species position along the fast-slow life-history continuum. As there are
few long-term datasets of wild populations with known-age individuals,
intraspecific (i.e. between-population) variation in senescence is
understudied and limited to comparisons of wild and captive populations of
the same species, mostly birds and mammals.  2. 
    In this paper, we examined how population position
along the fast-slow life history continuum affects intraspecific variation
in senescence in an amphibian, Bombina variegata.  3. 
    We used capture-recapture data collected in four
populations with contrasting life history strategies. Senescence
trajectories were analyzed using Bayesian capture-recapture models.
4.      We show that in fast populations the
onset of actuarial senescence was earlier and individuals aged at a faster
rate than individuals in slow populations.  5. 
    Our study provides one of the few empirical examples
of among-population variation in actuarial senescence patterns in the wild
and confirms that the fast-slow life history gradient is associated with
both macroevolutionary and microevolutionary patterns of actuarial
senescence.