UC Irvine

The manipulation of longevity through environmental treatments has provided many insights into the physiological processes affecting life-span. Here, we report the reduction of longevity in adult Drosophila melanogaster after three days of moderate adult crowding. Crowding is shown to reduce life-span through increased age-independent mortality rather than through altering the rate of ageing. Preliminary evidence also suggests that increased age-independent mortality after crowding may result from a reduction in stored energy reserves. The results also suggest that populations of D. melanogaster routinely maintained at high-adult densities may be relatively less susceptible to the detrimental effects of crowding on longevity.