Long-term effects of metal pollution: linking telomere dynamics, biological aging, infection and fitness.

Past studies have largely ignored the effects of toxic pollutants on long-term processes, including the rate of biological aging. Metal pollution may have particularly strong effects on aging rates by increasing disease and oxidative stress. Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes, shorten with age and stress exposure, and modulate cellular senescence. Telomeres have recently emerged as markers of long-term stress exposure and aging, but have rarely been studied in free-living populations exposed to pollutants. Using great tits (Parus major) as a model species, I will comprehensively explore how metal pollution affects biological aging by quantifying telomere dynamics in juveniles and adults, and determining whether aging-related changes also occur in sexual signals, behavior and fitness. I will test state-dependent models that predict behavioral shifts in individuals with reduced life expectancies, as predicted to occur due to metal exposure and telomere loss. Further, I will assess whether infectious disease (malaria) in metal-exposed birds contributes to elevating oxidative stress and telomere attrition. I will study nest box populations of great tits across a pollution gradient, and experimentally expose nestlings to metals and antioxidants. This study will make a pioneering contribution to evolutionary biology by testing theories of aging and state-dependent behavior in the context of metal pollution, and have critical importance to conservation biology.

Keywords:METAL POLLUTION

Disciplines:Animal biology