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This content will become publicly available on December 16, 2025

Title: Understanding age and society using natural populations
Ageing affects almost all aspects of life and therefore is an important process across societies, human and non-human animal alike. This article introduces new research exploring the complex interplay between individual-level ageing and demography, and the consequences this interplay holds for the structure and functioning of societies across various natural populations. We discuss how this Special Issue provides a foundation for integrating perspectives from evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology and demography to provide new insights into how ageing shapes individuals’ social behaviour and social associations, and how this in turn impacts social networks, social processes (such as disease or information transfer) and fitness. Through examining these topics across taxa, from invertebrates to birds and mammals, we outline how contemporary studies are using natural populations to advance our understanding of the relationship between age and society in innovative ways. We highlight key emerging research themes from this Special Issue, such as how sociality affects lifespan and health, the genetic and ecological underpinnings of social ageing and the adaptive strategies employed by different species. We conclude that this Special Issue underscores the importance of studying social ageing using diverse systems and interdisciplinary approaches for advancing evolutionary and ecological insights into both ageing and sociality more generally. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue ‘Understanding age and society using natural populations ’.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2515340
PAR ID:
10595279
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Royal Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume:
379
Issue:
1916
ISSN:
0962-8436
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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