Data from: Caloric restriction-mediated reproductive lifespan extension across multiple strains of the clonal aquatic plant <em>Lemna turionifera</em>

Here, with an aim of beginning to test the generality of this phenomenon in plants, we considered a congeneric species, L. turionifera, and examined CR-mediated lifespan extension in eight strains collected from Alberta, Canada. We grew plants in the lab under axenic conditions, and manipulated light intensity (and hence, putatively, CR) with neutral density filters. Plants that grew under dimmer conditions had longer reproductive lifespans, on average, than those that grew under brighter conditions, consistent with CR-mediated lifespan extension.

However, this came at the expense of a reduction in the capacity to contribute to population growth: plants in dimmer conditions produced about the same total offspring spread across their longer lifespans, leading to a reduced intrinsic rate of increase, measured at the level of the individual. Expanding the taxonomic scope of studies on CR-mediated lifespan extension—especially in plants—remains an important goal in senescence research.