Adult dietary restriction (DR) extends lifespan, but the mechanisms that underlie this effect
are not well understood. Many DR studies have demonstrated that lifespan extension tends
to be accompanied by a reduction in female fecundity—a correlation widely interpreted as
evidence that DR triggers an adaptive re–allocation of resources from reproduction to
somatic maintenance. Yet, recent evidence suggests that survival and fecundity need not
always trade off under DR, calling the re-allocation hypothesis into question. Because the …