Journal Article

Lizards from warm and declining populations are born with extremely short telomeres

European Project, Rozen-Rechels, David, Angelier, Frédéric, Richard, Murielle, ANR-13-JSV7-0011,DESTRESS,Dégradation de l'habitat et stress hormonal : combiner théorie physiologique et biologie de la conservation, Badiane, Arnaud, Dupoué, Andréaz, Meylan, Sandrine, Ohio University, ANR-17-CE02-0013,AQUATHERM,Rôles de la régulation hydrique et thermique dans les réponses écologiques au changement climatique, Ribout, Cécile, Clobert, Jean, Le Galliard, Jean-François, Cote, Julien, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) ; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Blaimont, Pauline, European Project: 87779,ECOFEED, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC) ; La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de

2022

Overview

Aging is the price to pay for acquiring and processing energy through cellular activity and life history productivity. Climate warming can exacerbate the inherent pace of aging, as illustrated by a faster erosion of protective telomere DNA sequences. This biomarker integrates individual pace of life and parental effects through the germline, but whether intra- and intergenerational telomere dynamics underlies population trends remains an open question. Here, we investigated the covariation between life history, telomere length (TL), and extinction risk among three age classes in a cold-adapted ectotherm ( Zootoca vivipara ) facing warming-induced extirpations in its distribution limits. TL followed the same threshold relationships with population extinction risk at birth, maturity, and adulthood, suggesting intergenerational accumulation of accelerated aging rate in declining populations. In dwindling populations, most neonates inherited already short telomeres, suggesting they were born physiologically old and unlikely to reach recruitment. At adulthood, TL further explained females’ reproductive performance, switching from an index of individual quality in stable populations to a biomarker of reproductive costs in those close to extirpation. We compiled these results to propose the aging loop hypothesis and conceptualize how climate-driven telomere shortening in ectotherms may accumulate across generations and generate tipping points before local extirpation.

• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences,CCSD
• Subject: Aging / Aging - genetics / Animal biology / Animals / Biodiversity and Ecology / Biological Sciences / Biomarkers / Climate change / Environmental Sciences / Extinction / Extinction, Biological / Female / Gene sequencing / Global Changes / Global Warming / Life history / Life Sciences / Lizards / Lizards - genetics / Neonates / Nucleotide sequence / Population Biology / Population Dynamics / Populations / Reproduction / Risk / Species extinction / Telomere - genetics / Telomere Shortening / Telomeres / Threshold limits / Tipping point / Vertebrate Zoology