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1. A comparison of great ape life histories in captivity

   Harwell, Faye; Knott, Cheryl D. (November 2020, 6th Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Evolutionary Primatologists)

   null (Ed.)

   Primates, especially great apes, have slow life histories and long lifespans compared to other mammalian groups. Data pertaining to life history variables can be difficult to collect in the wild considering that species can have longer lifespans than the duration of a field site’s existence. Here, we examine life history variables for captive-born great apes housed in the United States. Using studbook data, we investigate stillbirth rates, age at first birth (AFB), interbirth intervals, number of offspring, twinning rates, mean lifespan and maximum lifespans. Analyses presented here exclude individuals with estimated birthdates. The oldest maximum lifespan was recorded for gorillas (60.07yrs (female); n= 656) followed by chimpanzees (57.40yrs (female); n= 559), orangutans (54.88yrs (female); n= 660), and bonobos (52.15yrs (female); n= 144). Excluding individuals living ≤10 years of age, mean lifespan is similar for all great apes in captivity (F(3,417)= 0.849, p= 0.467; bonobos: 23.5 ± 9.8yrs; chimpanzees: 25.2 ± 10.6yrs; gorillas: 26.2 ± 10.2yrs; orangutans: 24.2 ± 10.0yrs). The stillbirth rate is highest in chimpanzees (0.147; n=559) then gorillas (0.144; n=658), bonobos (0.125; n=144), and orangutans (0.010; n=681). Gorillas (11.4 ± 3.7yrs) have a younger AFB, on average, than chimpanzees (15.9 ± 6.9yrs), bonobos (14.3 ± 6.9yrs), or orangutans (14.4 ± 5.1yrs) (F(3,377)= 13.97, p< 0.0001). We discuss how our findings are influenced by changes in husbandry practices as well as the captive environment. By examining the life histories of captive populations, we highlight the plasticity these species exhibit in relation to the timing of developmental and reproductive events. 

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2. Female reproduction and viral infection in a long‐lived mammal

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13799  

   Negrey, Jacob D.; Emery Thompson, Melissa; Dunn, Christopher D.; Otali, Emily; Wrangham, Richard W.; Mitani, John C.; Machanda, Zarin P.; Muller, Martin N.; Langergraber, Kevin E.; Goldberg, Tony L. (October 2022, Journal of Animal Ecology)

   Abstract For energetically limited organisms, life‐history theory predicts trade‐offs between reproductive effort and somatic maintenance. This is especially true of female mammals, for whom reproduction presents multifarious energetic and physiological demands.Here, we examine longitudinal changes in the gut virome (viral community) with respect to reproductive status in wild mature female chimpanzeesPan troglodytes schweinfurthiifrom two communities, Kanyawara and Ngogo, in Kibale National Park, Uganda.We used metagenomic methods to characterize viromes of individual chimpanzees while they were cycling, pregnant and lactating.Females from Kanyawara, whose territory abuts the park's boundary, had higher viral richness and loads (relative quantity of viral sequences) than females from Ngogo, whose territory is more energetically rich and located farther from large human settlements. Viral richness (total number of distinct viruses per sample) was higher when females were lactating than when cycling or pregnant. In pregnant females, viral richness increased with estimated day of gestation. Richness did not vary with age, in contrast to prior research showing increased viral abundance in older males from these same communities.Our results provide evidence of short‐term physiological trade‐offs between reproduction and infection, which are often hypothesized to constrain health in long‐lived species. 

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3. Chimpanzee locomotor risk-taking points to the importance of parental and alloparental supervision in humans

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114452  

   Murray, Bryce; MacLatchy, Laura; Sarringhaus, Lauren (January 2026, iScience)

   Adolescence is generally considered the life stage with peak risk-taking among humans, though this may be specific to the type of risk. To circumvent the safety constraints that limit experiments of physical risk-taking in humans, we used the natural behavior of wild chimpanzees as a model. All chimpanzees must navigate the same arboreal substrates where falls from the tree canopy are a major cause of trauma, and therefore have clear fitness consequences. Using instances of locomotor free flight as a proxy, we found that height from the ground and sex did not predict physical risk-taking. The latter finding is similar to human and chimpanzee economic risk-taking studies. We found that physical risk-taking correlated with age, peaking in infancy and decreasing gradually thereafter through juvenility and adolescence. We hypothesize that a similar pattern would be exhibited in humans if oversight were relaxed earlier in childhood, as it is among chimpanzees.Not Available 

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4. Evaluating trait variation and covariation in perennial, herbaceous crop candidate species using herbarium specimens

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-024-09798-8  

   Rubin, Matthew; Risano, Anastasia M; Bergh, Emma; Sandoval, Marissa; Mazumder, Samantha; Sherrod, Summer; Ciotir, Claudia; Herron, Sterling A; Miller, Allison J (September 2024, Brittonia)

   Abstract Contemporary agriculture in many parts of the world consists of annual plant species grown in monoculture, but recently interest has focused on developing perennial, herbaceous species for use in perennial polycultures that offer greater ecosystem services relative to annual monocultures. Because few perennial, herbaceous species were domesticated by early farmers, one of the initial steps in identifying wild, perennial, herbaceous species for potential crop development is understanding patterns of variation and covariation among reproductive traits that underpin yield and vegetative traits. Herbaria can serve as a valuable resource for taxonomically broad surveys of phenotypic variation and covariation for pre-breeding. In this study, we used herbarium specimens to investigate trait variation and covariation in five genera of the legume family (Fabaceae). We addressed two questions: (1) do vegetative and reproductive traits vary as a function of life span (annual vs. perennial species), and are these differences consistent across genera?; and (2) how do vegetative and reproductive traits correlate with one another across lifespan and/or within genera? Reproductive traits and vegetative traits were measured on 535 herbarium specimens representing annual and perennial species ofAstragalus,Lupinus,Phaseolus,Strophostyles, andVigna. While species exhibited intra- and interspecific variation, few morphological differences were observed among annual and perennial species. Correlations among vegetative traits and among reproductive traits were mostly positive when significant, and perennial species generally exhibited more positive correlations between vegetative and reproductive traits than annual species. These data have potential relevance for perennial crop development, and provide further support that herbaria represent a rich, relatively untapped resource of information about plant trait variation and covariation. 

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5. Temporal shifts in reproductive phenology of cycads: a comparative study in Ceratozamia

   https://doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2022-0053  

   Martínez-Domínguez, Lilí; Nicolalde-Morejón, Fernando; Silva, Francisco Vergara; Stevenson, Dennis Wm. (November 2022, Botany)

   The reproductive phenology in plants consists of successive life cycle phases leading to reproductive success. In seed plants, cycads and other dioecious groups have complex reproductive systems, where individuals require synchronizations among two sexes and populations of the same species. Here, we analyzed phenology between populations of three geographically close species in the cycad genus Ceratozamia Brongn. We described the lifespan of pollen and ovulate strobili and their morphological changes throughout ontogeny and evaluated synchrony among reproductive events, focusing on the timing and abundance of the receptivity and open pollen phases. Our results showed that the reproductive timing in the three species was highly synchronous, and that the overlap between the receptivity and open pollen phases could point to gene flow among populations of different species. We identified a correlation between the reproductive patterns and the temperature and precipitation regimes. Pollen and ovulate strobili were produced during the rainy season, whereas the period of synchrony between receptivity and pollen occurred during the dry season. The seed release occurred during the rainy season, which could contribute to keep the seed moist and prevent the embryo from drying out. Finally, we highlight the utility of studies in wild populations for the ecological and evolutionary understanding of phenological patterns in cycads. 

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