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Tests diet effects on growth-aging trade-offs in spadefoot tadpoles, suggesting diet impacts longevity.
Antagonistic trade-offs between early-life fitness and somatic maintenance are predicted to maintain variation in longevity, yet empirical support is scarce. Shephard et al. (2026) experimentally tested whether such trade-offs are concealed under typical developmental conditions using Mexican spadefoot tadpoles (Spea multiplicata) reared on typical or atypical diets. The atypical diet revealed cryptic genetic variation in larval growth and a significant negative genetic correlation with telomere length, indicating a diet-dependent trade-off in somatic maintenance.
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Luna Canaj (2026) studied this question.
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