Early-life telomere length variation under changing developmental conditions in long-lived bats
Abstract
Early-life conditions can shape molecular ageing processes, yet to what extent developmental variation in telomere length (TL) influences ageing trajectories remains unclear, particularly in long-lived mammals. We investigated how early-life environmental conditions and maternal age relate to juvenile TL and short-term survival in two long-lived bat species, Myotis myotis and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum . Using novel long-term datasets spanning ten years in M. myotis and five years in R. ferrumequinum , we measured relative telomere length (rTL) in juvenile wing tissue and applied sliding window analysis to identify sensitive climatic periods during development. In both species, early-life rTL varied significantly among years and was associated with short-term climatic conditions, with rainfall predicting rTL in both species and temperature acting in opposing directions: longer rTL with warmer conditions in M. myotis , and longer rTL at intermediate temperatures in R. ferrumequinum . Maternal age at conception showed little association with offspring TL in either species, although a weak positive sex-specific longitudinal effect was detected in R. ferrumequinum . Despite clear environmental influences on early-life rTL, we found no evidence that early-life rTL or early-life telomere change predicted short-term survival. Together, these results indicate that early-life telomere variation in bats reflects climatic conditions during development, providing novel insights into how early-life exposures could contribute to inter-individual differences in ageing trajectories in long-lived mammals.
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BibTeX
@misc{lonergan2026earlylife,
title = {{Early-life telomere length variation under changing developmental conditions in long-lived bats}},
author = {Tadhg Lonergan and Megan Power and Luke Romaine and Roger Ransome and Frédéric Touzalin and Sebastien Puechmaille and Gareth Jones and Emma Teeling},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.64898/2026.05.26.727814},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05783458v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Early-life telomere length variation under changing developmental conditions in long-lived bats
AU - Tadhg Lonergan
AU - Megan Power
AU - Luke Romaine
AU - Roger Ransome
AU - Frédéric Touzalin
AU - Sebastien Puechmaille
AU - Gareth Jones
AU - Emma Teeling
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/27
PB - HAL
DO - 10.64898/2026.05.26.727814
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05783458v1
AB - Early-life conditions can shape molecular ageing processes, yet to what extent developmental variation in telomere length (TL) influences ageing trajectories remains unclear, particularly in long-lived mammals. We investigated how early-life environmental conditions and maternal age relate to juvenile TL and short-term survival in two long-lived bat species, Myotis myotis and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum . Using novel long-term datasets spanning ten years in M. myotis and five years in R. ferrumequinum , we measured relative telomere length (rTL) in juvenile wing tissue and applied sliding window analysis to identify sensitive climatic periods during development. In both species, early-life rTL varied significantly among years and was associated with short-term climatic conditions, with rainfall predicting rTL in both species and temperature acting in opposing directions: longer rTL with warmer conditions in M. myotis , and longer rTL at intermediate temperatures in R. ferrumequinum . Maternal age at conception showed little association with offspring TL in either species, although a weak positive sex-specific longitudinal effect was detected in R. ferrumequinum . Despite clear environmental influences on early-life rTL, we found no evidence that early-life rTL or early-life telomere change predicted short-term survival. Together, these results indicate that early-life telomere variation in bats reflects climatic conditions during development, providing novel insights into how early-life exposures could contribute to inter-individual differences in ageing trajectories in long-lived mammals.
ER -