Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.

Early life environments can have long-lasting effects on adult reproductive performance, but disentangling the influence of early and adult life environments on fitness is challenging, especially for long-lived species. Using a detailed dataset spanning over two centuries, we studied how both early...

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Main Authors: Lidia Colejo-Durán, Fanie Pelletier, Lisa Dillon, Alain Gagnon, Patrick Bergeron
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290212
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author Lidia Colejo-Durán
Fanie Pelletier
Lisa Dillon
Alain Gagnon
Patrick Bergeron
author_facet Lidia Colejo-Durán
Fanie Pelletier
Lisa Dillon
Alain Gagnon
Patrick Bergeron
author_sort Lidia Colejo-Durán
collection DOAJ
description Early life environments can have long-lasting effects on adult reproductive performance, but disentangling the influence of early and adult life environments on fitness is challenging, especially for long-lived species. Using a detailed dataset spanning over two centuries, we studied how both early and adult life environments impacted reproductive performance in preindustrial women. Due to a wide geographic range, agricultural production was lower in northern compared to southern parishes, and health conditions were worse in urban than rural parishes. We tested whether reproductive traits and offspring survival varied between early and adult life environments by comparing women who moved between different environments during their lifetime with those who moved parishes but remained in the same environment. Our findings reveal that urban-born women had an earlier age at first reproduction and less offspring surviving to adulthood than rural-born women. Moreover, switching from urban to rural led to increased offspring survival, while switching from rural to urban had the opposite effect. Finally, women who switched from rural to urban and from South to North had their first child at an older age compared to those who stayed in the same environment type. Our study underscores the complex and interactive effects of early and adult life environments on reproductive traits, highlighting the need to consider both when studying environmental effects on reproductive outcomes.
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spelling doaj-art-7780a8a5a41a42e4ae2c35e14daf545b2025-08-20T02:18:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011910e029021210.1371/journal.pone.0290212Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.Lidia Colejo-DuránFanie PelletierLisa DillonAlain GagnonPatrick BergeronEarly life environments can have long-lasting effects on adult reproductive performance, but disentangling the influence of early and adult life environments on fitness is challenging, especially for long-lived species. Using a detailed dataset spanning over two centuries, we studied how both early and adult life environments impacted reproductive performance in preindustrial women. Due to a wide geographic range, agricultural production was lower in northern compared to southern parishes, and health conditions were worse in urban than rural parishes. We tested whether reproductive traits and offspring survival varied between early and adult life environments by comparing women who moved between different environments during their lifetime with those who moved parishes but remained in the same environment. Our findings reveal that urban-born women had an earlier age at first reproduction and less offspring surviving to adulthood than rural-born women. Moreover, switching from urban to rural led to increased offspring survival, while switching from rural to urban had the opposite effect. Finally, women who switched from rural to urban and from South to North had their first child at an older age compared to those who stayed in the same environment type. Our study underscores the complex and interactive effects of early and adult life environments on reproductive traits, highlighting the need to consider both when studying environmental effects on reproductive outcomes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290212
spellingShingle Lidia Colejo-Durán
Fanie Pelletier
Lisa Dillon
Alain Gagnon
Patrick Bergeron
Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
PLoS ONE
title Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
title_full Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
title_fullStr Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
title_full_unstemmed Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
title_short Early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women.
title_sort early and adult life environmental effects on reproductive performance in preindustrial women
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290212
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AT alaingagnon earlyandadultlifeenvironmentaleffectsonreproductiveperformanceinpreindustrialwomen
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