The Journal of Avian Biology is inviting contributions for a Special Issue that explores the mechanisms, behaviors, and patterns of senescence in birds within an evolutionary framework.

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 28 February 2026.

Avian senescence, its evolution and the mechanisms that shape senescence patterns, have fascinated animal ecologists and evolutionary biologists for decades. Senescence is broadly defined as the gradual decline in physiological function and increased mortality risk with age, driven by genetic, environmental, and evolutionary factors. Birds appear to be more resilient to senescence effects compared to mammals despite needing to cope with higher physiological demands associated with flight. It has therefore been argued that studying senescence patterns and mechanisms in birds may have wider implications for our understanding of ageing processes.

Despite extensive research, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the ecological, physiological and genetic factors that drive the variation in ageing trajectories in birds. Such unknowns include whether there is geographic variation in different senescence rates among birds or how increasing anthropogenic pressures affect ageing in wild birds. The growing availability of long-term data, advanced assays, molecular techniques, and improved statistical tools makes this field more accessible than ever.

This special issue aims to highlight the diversity of senescence effects in birds and to provide a status update on this decades’ old topic. We invite empirical studies that span over a wide taxonomic range, and we welcome reviews and opinion pieces on key issues and emerging areas that relate to this scope. Technical papers on new methods and how these may promote evolutionary or ecological understanding of senescence are also encouraged. Specifically, we encourage authors to submit manuscripts on the following topics (but not limited to):

• Senescence of behaviour, particularly migratory, reproductive and cognitive behaviour
• Physiological senescence, particularly studies that link the metabolome, proteome or microbiome to patterns of (immuno-)senescence
• Senescence of flight, associated with musculoskeletal degeneration (loss of muscle mass, bone density, or flight performance)
• Senescence-related genetic and epigenetic alterations that contribute to genomic instability, such as loss of telomere sequences, DNA damage accumulation and decrease in DNA repair capacity
• Transgenerational effects of senescence (behavioural, physiological or genetic)
• Senescence of vocal communication or sexual ornaments
• Environmental exacerbation (or mitigation) of senescence effects, for example through effects of heat stress or pollution (noise, light, chemical)
• Comparative studies on senescence patterns
• Senescence in conservation biology

We encourage submissions coming from underrepresented geographic areas. If your institution does not currently have an Open Access agreement with Wiley to cover publication costs and if you are not covered through the research4life partnership, Journal of Avian Biology (JAB) is able to provide a limited number of waivers to cover publication costs. Read more here about JAB internal waivers.

As soon as an article is accepted, it will be curated and typeset so that it can be published on the journal webpage. All accepted articles will be published together in a JAB Special Issue, accompanied by an editorial. Special issue content will be widely promoted on the social media channels of the Nordic Society Oikos journals and the platform of our publisher Wiley. 

 

How to:

If you intend to submit a manuscript for our special issue, please send a short email to any of the guest editors (see contact information below) including a tentative title, the type of article, a brief summary of the research questions and methodology, and name of the corresponding author. Please note that we do not expect any results to be included in this short description nor that the content is definitive for the resulting manuscript. The short description is merely used to assess whether your research fits the topic of the special issue. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of the guest editors.

The manuscript will undergo the regular peer-review process. Please submit your manuscript through the JAB online submission system (indicate in the system and the cover letter that your manuscript is a contribution to the special issue). Before you submit, please, check out the author guidelines of the journal about how to prepare your manuscript before submission. 

 

Editors of the special issue

Britt Heidinger, Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, USA (britt.heidinger[at]ndsu.edu)
Interests: My research takes an integrative approach to examining how organisms cope with environmental challenges and the long-term consequences of stress exposures for life-history traits including the pace of ageing. Understanding the factors that contribute to variation in resilience is increasingly important in the face of rapidly changing environmental conditions.

Jaime Muriel, Department of Zoology, University of Cordoba, Spain (jaime.muriel[at]uco.es)
Interests: I am broadly interested in the role that maternal effects play in the mechanisms of tolerance or resistance against pathogens in wild bird populations. In this way, my current line of research focuses on the potential interplays between maternal hormonal effects, susceptibility to malaria infection and accelerated ageing. In my research, I adopt an integrative approach to advance our understanding of eco-evolutionary processes in natural populations. I do this by applying ideas and techniques from complementary fields, such as evolutionary ecology, ecophysiology, and parasitology.

Julia Schroeder, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK (julia.schroeder[at]gmail.com)
Interests: My interests lie in the intersection of behavioural ecology, evolution and biodiversity. Among others, I work with an insular wild bird population that is monitored intensively for long-term, which allows me to quantify senescence and ageing trajectories unusually well. Using longitudinal analysis, my recent research has shed some light on the quantitative genetics of telomere length and dynamics in a wild animal population, which is interesting because it confirms long-standing hypotheses about the evolution of ageing. I am also interested in the effects of chronic stress on ageing, and trans-generational effects. 

Michael Tobler, Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden (michael.tobler[at]biol.lu.se)
Interests: I am interested in the role of physiological markers related to ageing (telomeres, antioxidants, reactive species) in mediating life-history strategies and trade-offs. I am especially interested in how different physiological systems (e.g. immune system and antioxidant network) interact with each other to shape ageing trajectories, and how transgenerational effects can affect longevity and survival.

Roxana Torres, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México (lrtorres[at]unam.mx)
Interests: My interests lie at the intersection of behavioral and evolutionary ecology, with a focus on understanding the intricate dynamics of mate choice, sexual signaling, parental care, senescence, and the associated life-history trade-offs.