Implications of clonality for ageing research

Senescence, an organismal performance decline with age, has historically been considered a universal phenomenon by evolutionary biologists and zoologist. Yet, increasing fertility and survival with age are nothing new to plant ecologists, among whom it is common knowledge that senescence is not universal. Recently, these two realities have come into a confrontation, begging for the rephrasing of the classical question that has led ageing research for decades: “why do we senesce?” to a more practical “what are the mechanisms by which some organisms escape from senescence?” Plants are amenable to examining this question because of their rich repertoire of life history strategies. These include the existence of permanent seed banks, vegetative dormancy and ability to produce clones, among others. Here, I use a large number of high resolution demographic models from 181 species that reflect life history strategies and their trade-offs among herbaceous perennials, succulents and shrubs measured under field conditions worldwide to examine whether senescence rates of ramets from clonal plants differ from those of whole plants reproducing either strictly sexually, or with a combination of sexual and clonal mechanisms. Contrary to the initial expectation from the mutation accumulation theory of senescence, ramets of clonal plants were more likely to exhibit senescence than those species employing sexual reproduction. I discuss why these comparisons between ramets and genets are useful, as well as its implications and future directions for ageing research.