Data from: State transitions: a major mortality risk for seasonal species

Ageing results from the accumulation of multifactorial damage over time.
However, the temporal distribution of this damage remains unknown. In
seasonal species, transitions between seasons are critical periods of
massive physiological remodelling. We hypothesised that these recurrent
peaks of physiological remodelling are costly in terms of survival. We
tested whether captive small primates exposed to an experimentally
increased frequency of seasonal transitions die sooner than individuals
living under natural seasonality. The results show that experiencing one
additional season per year increases the mortality hazard by a factor of 3
to 4, whereas the expected number of seasons lived is only slightly
impacted by the seasonal rhythm. These results demonstrate that
physiological transitions between periods of high and low metabolic
activity represent a major mortality risk for seasonal organisms, which
has been ignored until now.