Poor conditions during early development can initiate trade‐offs that favour current survival
at the expense of somatic maintenance and subsequently, future reproduction. However, the …

Climate warming is increasingly exposing wildlife to sublethal high temperatures, which may
lead to chronic impacts and reduced fitness. Telomere length (TL) may link heat exposure …

Understanding the major evolutionary transition from solitary individuals to complex societies
is hampered by incomplete insight into the drivers of living in cooperative groups. This may …

Increased predation risk is considered a cost of having conspicuous colours, affecting the
anti-predator behaviour of colourful animals. However, this is difficult to test, as individual …

Telomere length (TL) shortens with age but telomere dynamics can relate to fitness components
independent of age. Immune function often relates to such fitness components and can …

Telomeres are protective, nucleoprotein structures at the end of chromosomes that have been
associated with lifespan across taxa. However, the extent to which these associations can …

Research aimed at understanding the evolution of costly, seemingly altruistic helping
behaviour in cooperative birds has strongly focused on a single aspect of helping—offspring …

Predation is a major cause of mortality and nest failure in birds. Cooperative predator defense
can enhance nest success and adult survival but, because it is inherently risky, dynamic …

Although crucial for host survival when facing persistent parasite pressure, costly immune
functions will inevitably compete for resources with other energetically expensive traits such as …

In cooperative breeders, individuals forego independent reproduction and help others raise
offspring. Helping is proposed to be driven by indirect benefits from raising relatives, and/or …