Oxidative stress physiology in relation to life history traits of a free-living vertebrate: the spotted snow skink, Niveoscincus ocellatus.

• Recent research suggests that oxidative stress, via its links to metabolism and senescence, is a key mechanism linking life history traits such as fecundity and growth with survival; however, this has rarely been put under empirical scrutiny within free-living populations. Using a wild population of live-bearing skinks, we explored how plasma antioxidant activity (OXY), reactive oxidative metabolites (ROM), and the estimated oxidative stress index are associated with female and male life history. We found that male skinks have a significantly higher ROM and estimated oxidative stress index than female skinks, but this was not accompanied by a sex difference in mortality. Both sexes showed a non-linear association between OXY and age, indicating that the oldest and youngest individuals had the lowest OXY. Interestingly, female skinks with high OXY showed a decreased probability of survival to the following season. However, we found no significant associations between female reproductive investment (litter size or litter mass) or parturition date (i.e. metabolism) and oxidative status. Combined, our results offer mixed support for a role of oxidative stress in mediating life history traits and suggest that future studies need to explore oxidative stress during vitellogenesis in addition to using an intra-individual approach to understand the cost of reproduction and patterns of aging.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

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