Data from: Among-strain consistency in the pace and shape of senescence in duckweed

Whereas a considerable body of theory is devoted to explaining the origin and persistence of senescence, the evolutionary forces underlying variation in demographic trajectories more generally remain poorly understood. 2.Studying variation in demographic trajectories is complicated by the fact that different species (or even different populations of a given species) may live and reproduce on different time scales, which, for comparative purposes, can make it challenging to disentangle patterns of age-related demographic change (the shape of demographic age trajectories) from the time scale on which those changes happen (the pace of demographic age trajectories). 3.Here we examine variation in the pace and shape of demographic trajectories among strains of the aquatic plant Lemna turionifera Landolt from 24 sites across Alberta, Canada.

Our main objectives were to describe the shape of demographic trajectories in L. turionifera, and test for among-strain variation in pace and shape. We also tested whether potential variation in pace and shape is (i) constrained by tradeoffs with other life history traits, and (ii) consistent with local adaptation to environmental characteristics at the sites of strain origin. 4.The strains we examined were overwhelmingly subject to age-related increases in mortality and declines in fecundity, with increases in mortality tending to decelerate and plateau at advanced ages.