Empirical evidence for declines in fitness components (survival and reproductive
performance) with age has recently accumulated in wild populations, highlighting that the …

Following the discoveries of telomeres and of their implications in terms of health and
ageing, there has been a growing interest into the study of telomere dynamics in wild …

Trait-based studies have become extremely common in plant ecology. Trait-based
approaches often rely on the tacit assumption that intraspecific trait variability (ITV) is …

Ecology Letters (2011) 14: 625–634 Abstract Condition is a nearly ubiquitous term in the
behavioural, physiological and evolutionary ecology literature; however, existing definitions …

Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds is the most current and comprehensive
account of research on avian reproduction. It develops two unique themes: the consideration …

Body condition indices are widely used by ecologists, but many indices are used without
empirical validation. To test the validity of a variety of indices, we compared how well a …

The idea that oxidative stress may underpin life history trade‐offs has become extremely
popular. However, experimental support for the concept has proved equivocal. It has …

Recent work on a small European cave salamander (Proteus anguinus) has revealed that it
has exceptional longevity, yet it appears to have unexceptional defences against oxidative …

A fundamental premise of life‐history theory is that organisms that increase current
reproductive investment suffer increased mortality. Possibly the most studied life‐history …

Personality (consistent differences between individuals in behavior) and plasticity (changes
within individuals in behavior) are often viewed as separate and opposing phenomena. We …