Universal prediction of vertebrate species age at maturity

Abstract

Animal age at maturity can be used as a universal and simple predictor of species extinction risk. At present, methods to estimate age at maturity are typically species-specific, limiting comparisons among species or are infeasible to do practical constraints. To overcome this, we developed a universal predictor of vertebrate species age at maturity. We show that the frequency of ‘CG’ sequences (CpG sites) in gene promoter regions is a rapid predictor of vertebrate age at maturity. Our models predict age at maturity with remarkable accuracy and generalisability, with median error rates of 30% (less than 1 year) and are robust to genome assemblies of varying quality. We generate age at maturity predictions for 1912 vertebrate species for which this information was previously absent from online databases and envisage these predictions will help to inform management decisions for the many species for which more detailed population information is currently unavailable.