COSAM News Articles 2016 July Warner publishes paper on turtle aging, reproduction, and mortality in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Warner publishes paper on turtle aging, reproduction, and mortality in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Published: 07/06/2016

By: Lindsay Miles Penny

Daniel Warner, a research assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, recently published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The title of the paper is, “Decades of field data reveal that turtles senesce in the wild,” and in the publication, Warner and the other authors of the paper explore the effects of aging on a population of approximately 1,000 individual painted turtles in the backwaters of the Mississippi River over a 24-year period. The authors expected turtle reproduction would increase with age as the turtles grew larger, and there would not be an age-dependent increase in mortality. The research findings painted a different picture. To read the paper, click here.