Epigenetic clocks of biological age and the intergenerational consequences of ageing in the Seychelles warbler

This exciting novel project will investigate the effects of parental biological age on offspring health and fitness in the Seychelles warbler.
Individual variation in ageing (the deterioration of physiological function and performance in later life) occurs within most animals. Importantly, this ageing may also impact the health and quality of offspring produced by parents of different ages. However, parental biological age at conception (the age an individual's functionality reflects, not their chronological age), should be used to investigate such intergenerational effects - a point that has been massively overlooked in studies!
Our long-term monitoring of an isolated island population of Seychelles warblers, where all individuals, and their offspring, are measured and sampled throughout their lives, provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of parental ageing without the confounding issues of unnatural conditions or medical interventions. Samples and health, reproduction and survival data on 100's of individuals are already held, but fieldwork will extend this data. Previous work confirms that individual variation in ageing occurs in this population and that parental chronological age impacts offspring fitness. Importantly, a pilot study shows that epigentic clocks that reflect biological age in the warbler can be generated from measures of DNA methylation. This population therefore provides the resources for an excellent, ground-breaking study.