Discussion
Interest in telomeres has steadily increased in the last decade.
Telomere length, as a result of the interaction between telomere loss
and DNA maintenance processes like telomerase activity (an enzyme which
actively rebuilds the ever-shortening telomeres
(Greider & Blackburn, 1985)), has been
linked to individual health, cellular ageing, and organismal senescence
(e.g. , (Bernardes de Jesus &
Blasco, 2012; Verhulst et al., 2016).
This has triggered additional interest in understanding how telomere
length and its rate of change are related, and the extent to which both
may predict longevity or fitness at different periods of life
(Bichet et al., 2020;
Salomons et al., 2009;
Vera, Bernardes de Jesus, Foronda, Flores,
& Blasco, 2012). Such links at the species level have been previously
studied (Dantzer & Fletcher, 2015;
Tricola et al., 2018;
Whittemore et al., 2019). Our study aimed
to disentangle the phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic correlations amongAdult TL, Chick TL, TROC and three general bird life history
traits.