Reactive oxygen species and evolution… a matter of trade-offs!

Life on Earth is surprisingly rich. It comes in many forms, sizes, and colors, but also in countless molecular structures. Why is our planet so rich in life? What are the sources of this enormous biological diversity? These questions can mean many things, and therefore may have different answers. Many scientists are interested in the proximate causes (physiological and molecular) of this biological diversity, and in what this means for the resilience and adaptability of animals to environmental changes. In the past 20 years, it has become clear that the interaction between certain molecules called reactive oxygen species and other molecules called antioxidants can have dramatic effects on the generation and evolution of biological diversity, particularly with regard to growth and development strategies, reproduction, or aging processes. Combining issues related to evolutionary ecology and oxidative stress physiology, the recent book The Role of Organismal Oxidative Stress in the Ecology and Life-History Evolution of Animals by Prof. David Costantini, professor of Physiology at the Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB) at the University of Tuscia, published by Springer in the Fascinating Life Sciences series, offers a fascinating examination of how processes at a very small scale, such as those occurring inside our cells, can influence large-scale processes that generate biological diversity. In particular, the book highlights how the generation of biodiversity can be favored, constrained, or driven by the interaction between the reactive oxygen species generated by cells and the antioxidants synthesized or acquired through diet by the organism.

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