Dataset: Reproductive ageing and pace-of-life syndromes

A common pattern of reproductive ageing is that reproductive performance increases during early life and reaches a peak, followed by a decline with age. Such quadratic reproductive ageing patterns can differ among individuals. Moreover, if individual differences in reproductive ageing patterns reflect individual-specific life-history trade-off strategies, they are also predicted to be associated with behaviour according to the pace-of-life syndrome. For example, more active, aggressive or bolder individuals may invest more in early reproduction, resulting in more rapid reproductive ageing. In this study, we estimated individual differences in quadratic reproductive ageing patterns and the relationship between reproductive ageing and the activity of the virgin female bean bug (Riptortus pedestris) in the absence of mating costs. We found that the egg production of virgin females followed a parabolic trajectory with age and that individuals varied significantly in their quadratic reproductive ageing patterns. In addition, we found that females that were relatively more active during early life invested in egg production more heavily at a young age and suffered from a sharper decline in egg production later in life. Thus, our results indicate that individual reproductive ageing patterns may be a key component in the study of pace-of-life syndromes. We suggest that within-individual plastic characteristics of life-history traits such as reproductive ageing patterns may explain the mixed results from multiple studies on pace-of-life syndromes.

繁殖衰老的常见模式为：繁殖性能在生命早期逐步提升并达到峰值，随后随年龄增长而下降。这类二次型繁殖衰老模式存在个体间差异。此外，若繁殖衰老模式的个体差异反映了个体特有的生活史权衡策略，根据生命速率综合征（pace-of-life syndrome）的理论框架，这类差异还应与行为特征相关联。例如，活跃度更高、攻击性更强或更胆大的个体可能会在早期繁殖中投入更多资源，进而导致繁殖衰老进程更快。本研究评估了二次型繁殖衰老模式的个体差异，以及无交配成本条件下，处女雌点蜂缘蝽（Riptortus pedestris）的繁殖衰老与其活动能力之间的关联。研究发现，处女雌虫的产卵量随年龄呈抛物线轨迹变化，且个体间的二次型繁殖衰老模式存在显著差异。此外，本研究还发现，生命早期活跃度相对更高的雌虫，在年轻阶段会更多地投入产卵活动，但其后期产卵量的下降幅度也更为显著。综上，本研究结果表明，个体繁殖衰老模式或许是生命速率综合征研究中的关键组成部分。我们提出，诸如繁殖衰老模式这类生活史性状的个体内可塑性特征，或可解释多项生命速率综合征相关研究中出现的不一致结果。