A (micro)environmental perspective on the evolution of female reproductive aging

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018Aging is a natural process associated with a progressive decrease of cellular and tissue function. Such age-dependent disruption of organismal homeostasis is referred to as senescence. The dynamics of the aging process vary between different organs, with the female reproductive system being the most extreme case of this heterogeneity. Indeed, the cessation of human female reproductive capacity occurs well before the end of expected lifespan. In an era when most human populations have come to benefit from substantial increases in average life expectancy, the early termination of female reproductive capacity remains an epidemiologically intriguing question and a clinically pertinent topic. In this issue of the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, the problem of reproductive aging is comprehensively addressed under the auspices of human life history theory. To further ease our readers into the burgeoning field of evolutionary medicine, the present commentary focuses on key Darwinian concepts at the heart of the early cessation of human ovarian function.Paulo Navarro-Costa is supported by the Portuguese national funding agency for science, research and technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant PTDC/MEC-AND/ 30221/2017).