HIGHLIGHTS
• Open-access life history data have proliferated dramatically in recent
years and macro-ecological studies are using these data to examine
patterns in life histories across the tree of life.
• These studies support the fast-slow continuum being the dominant –
but not unique – axis structuring life history variation: other
important axes associated with development, reproductive tactics, and
demographic buffering have emerged.
• Here, we make recommendations for characterising life history through
data choices and analytical methods of dimensionality reduction, with
recourse to a clear model of life history.
• We use our framework to advocate that future empirical studies of life
history evolution take hypothesis-driven approaches that investigate
classical and emerging life history theories, to reveal novel axes,
clusters, and boundaries of life history variation across all taxa.