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4 - The Meaning of ‘Exceptional Longevity’

A Critical Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

By
Jean-Michel Gaillard  and
Nigel Gilles Yoccoz
Edited by
Jean-François Lemaître  and
Samuel Pavard
Jean-François Lemaître
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Samuel Pavard
Affiliation:
National Museum of Natural History, Paris
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Summary

Longevity is one of the most variable life history traits among animals, ranging from days (e.g. adult mayflies) to centuries (e.g. the Greenland shark). Based on this variability, claims that some species display exceptional longevity are regularly published. Yet determining whether a species shows exceptional longevity or not is far from an easy task. For instance, longevity is (among other traits) associated with body mass, according to an allometric relationship, and a species displaying exceptional longevity should typically break this relationship. Longevity also corresponds to a biological time measuring the speed of the life cycle (often called pace of life) and should be isometrically linked with other biological times such as developmental time or age at first reproduction. From that perspective, a species displaying exceptional longevity should break these relationships as well. However, how much the observed longevity should differ from the predicted values for a given body mass or a given pace of life to be labelled as exceptional is fuzzy. Similarly, what is the threshold age at which a set of individuals displaying exceptional longevities can be identified? The aim of this chapter is to provide a critical reappraisal of some statistical methods used so far to determine whether a species or an individual shows exceptional longevity and then to provide a clear roadmap to identify such species and individuals. The analyses presented in this chapter are based on demographic databases on mammals and some exceptionally detailed case studies (on medflies, rhesus macaques and mole rats) at the individual level.

Keywords

allometryextreme valueindividual heterogeneitylifespanmammalsslow-fast continuum
Type
Chapter
Information
The Biodemography of Ageing and Longevity , pp. 48 - 68
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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