Symposium number: 43

Title: AVIAN SENESCENCE

Principal organizer: Pat Monaghan
University of Glasgow, Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
email: P.Monaghan@bio.gla.ac.uk

Second organizer: Carol Vleck
Iowa State University, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Ames, IA 50011, USA

First keynote speaker: Carol Vleck
Iowa State University, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Title of first keynote paper: Senescence in birds 1: underlying mechanisms

Second keynote speaker: Pat Monaghan¹ / Robert Ricklefs²
¹ Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
² Department of Biology, University of Missouri at St. Louis, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121 4499, USA
Title of second keynote paper: The evolutionary ecology of senescence in birds

Contributed talks

Symposium description: Birds have been one of the most important groups of organisms for developing and testing life history theory. One of the least understood life history traits is senescence, both with respect to its evolution and its underlying mechanisms. In general, birds have long life-spans relative to similar sized mammals, despite their higher metabolic rates, body temperatures and blood glucose levels, all of which would be expected to increase the rate of ageing. There is now much interest in both the mechanisms underlying the pattern and tempo of senescence in birds, and in the evolutionary processes involved. Research in this area has been greatly facilitated by the many long-term field studies of marked individuals made possible through ringing programs.
Topics to be addressed in this symposium include 1) the causes of ageing in general, and how birds in particular may have slowed the aging process; and 2) the evolution of senescence in avian taxa and the ecological, developmental and life history trade-offs that may account for differences in rates of senescence. These two aspects will form the basis of the keynote addresses.

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