If all organisms are carbon based and and have almost similar functions(cellular etc.), why does lifetime vary across species, demographics etc.
*Lifetime here is average natural lifetime.
In: Biology
the more likely an organism is to die from predation the less likely any genes relating towards longevity will matter.
for instance, bats and rats/mice are similar in size, but because of their ability to fly bats have a much lower chance of actually being eaten, which means they have a much larger chance of reproducing later on in their life which will benefit bats with better genetics relating towards longevity.
TLDR;
There is something called the rate of living theory. Raymond Pearl based his Age of living theory upon the earlier work of Max Rubner and proposed that the maximum lifespan of an animal was related to its metabolic rate sometimes viewed as the number of heartbeats. However this may only be part of the picture with the role of reactive oxygen species in cell deterioration and eventually cell death also playing a part. – https://youtu.be/ctEIbPI6A4U
An organism is more likely to die early if its species is hunted by another species. If your species mates often, an organism won’t have to live as long to spread its genes. In the case of plants, I have no idea. They get eaten and mate all the time.
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