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Ecology and mode-of-life explain lifespan variation in birds and mammals

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, June 2014
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (89th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
9 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
twitter
56 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page
wikipedia
3 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
2 Google+ users
video
1 YouTube creator

Citations

dimensions_citation
235 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
442 Mendeley
Title
Ecology and mode-of-life explain lifespan variation in birds and mammals
Published in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, June 2014
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2014.0298
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kevin Healy, Thomas Guillerme, Sive Finlay, Adam Kane, Seán B. A. Kelly, Deirdre McClean, David J. Kelly, Ian Donohue, Andrew L. Jackson, Natalie Cooper

Abstract

Maximum lifespan in birds and mammals varies strongly with body mass such that large species tend to live longer than smaller species. However, many species live far longer than expected given their body mass. This may reflect interspecific variation in extrinsic mortality, as life-history theory predicts investment in long-term survival is under positive selection when extrinsic mortality is reduced. Here, we investigate how multiple ecological and mode-of-life traits that should reduce extrinsic mortality (including volancy (flight capability), activity period, foraging environment and fossoriality), simultaneously influence lifespan across endotherms. Using novel phylogenetic comparative analyses and to our knowledge, the most species analysed to date (n = 1368), we show that, over and above the effect of body mass, the most important factor enabling longer lifespan is the ability to fly. Within volant species, lifespan depended upon when (day, night, dusk or dawn), but not where (in the air, in trees or on the ground), species are active. However, the opposite was true for non-volant species, where lifespan correlated positively with both arboreality and fossoriality. Our results highlight that when studying the molecular basis behind cellular processes such as those underlying lifespan, it is important to consider the ecological selection pressures that shaped them over evolutionary time.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 56 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 442 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 7 2%
United Kingdom 4 <1%
Brazil 3 <1%
Sweden 2 <1%
Switzerland 2 <1%
Canada 2 <1%
South Africa 1 <1%
Romania 1 <1%
Netherlands 1 <1%
Other 2 <1%
Unknown 417 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 97 22%
Researcher 73 17%
Student > Bachelor 66 15%
Student > Master 43 10%
Other 20 5%
Other 65 15%
Unknown 78 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 223 50%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 48 11%
Environmental Science 39 9%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 6 1%
Neuroscience 4 <1%
Other 21 5%
Unknown 101 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 122. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 March 2023.
All research outputs
#341,871
of 25,371,288 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#855
of 11,331 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#2,849
of 243,252 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#18
of 175 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,371,288 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,331 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 243,252 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 175 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.