Intraspecific latitudinal patterns in life history are well documented, yet underlying mechanisms of such patterns are poorly understood. To advance our insights in the evolution of latitudinal differences in two key traits, growth rate and lifespan, we evaluated the potential costs of rapid growth in terms of reduced adult lifespan, and the mediatory role of oxidative stress. We studied latitudinal differentiation in routine and experimentally increased (compensatory) larval growth rates, and in adult lifespan under common garden conditions in low‐ and high‐latitude populations of the damselfly Ischnura elegans. The low‐latitude populations showed not only higher routine growth rates but also a stronger compensatory growth response after a transient food shortage compared to the high‐latitude populations. In contrast with a tradeoff scenario, adults of the faster growing low‐latitude populations lived longer, had higher levels of antioxidant enzymes, and tended to experience lower oxidative damage. Importantly, these latitudinal patterns were largely mirrored at the treatment level, where experimentally induced compensatory growth rates were associated with neither oxidative damage nor shorter adult lifespans. Moreover, individuals with a higher growth rate after the transient food shortage did not have shorter adult lifespans or higher oxidative damage, but instead showed a stronger antioxidant defense. Our data indicate that an overcompensatory, hormetic response in antioxidant defense, potentially induced by the higher routine growth rates, resulting in less oxidative damage may underlie these unexpected growth‐lifespan patterns. Our results highlight the added value of incorporating oxidative stress physiology, and the need to consider multivariate tradeoffs in which animals optimize multiple traits, when studying life‐history evolution.

中文翻译：

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活得快，年老了：氧化应激可能是生活史意外发展的潜在媒介

生活史中的种内纬度模式已得到充分记录，但对这种模式的潜在机制了解甚少。为了进一步了解纬度和寿命这两个关键特征在纬度上的差异，我们评估了成年寿命缩短和氧化应激的中介作用后，快速增长的潜在成本。我们研究了常规和实验性（补偿性）幼虫生长速率的纬度分化，以及在普通花园条件下豆娘Ischnura elegans在普通和高纬度种群中的成年寿命。。与高纬度人群相比，在短暂的粮食短缺之后，低纬度人群不仅显示出较高的常规增长率，而且还表现出更强的补偿性生长反应。与权衡方案相反，增长较快的低纬度人群的成年人寿命更长，抗氧化酶含量更高，并且遭受的氧化损伤也较低。重要的是，这些纬度模式在治疗水平上基本反映出来，在实验水平上，实验诱导的代偿性生长率与氧化损伤或较短的成人寿命均无关。此外，短暂食物短缺后具有较高生长速度的个体的成年人寿命没有缩短或氧化损伤更高，而是显示出更强的抗氧化防御能力。我们的数据表明，过度补偿，较高的常规生长速率可能导致抗氧化剂防御中的激动反应，导致较少的氧化损伤，可能是这些意想不到的生长寿命模式的基础。我们的结果凸显了整合氧化应激生理学的附加价值，并且在研究生命历史演变时，需要考虑动物在优化多个性状时应进行多方权衡。