Comparative life spans of species: why do species have the life spans they do?

Proximate answers to questions about species longevity are to be found in the physiological processes that regulate duration of life. But what are these processes, and how are they themselves controlled? This leads to ultimate, evolutionary questions about longevity. What are the selection forces that favor one life span instead of another for a given species? To understand the evolution of life span we need also to understand the evolution of aging. A plausible hypothesis is that because of the requirement for reproduction, natural selection favors a strategy that invests fewer resources in maintenance of somatic cells and tissues than are necessary for indefinite survival. This "disposable soma" theory predicts that aging is due to the accumulation of unrepaired somatic defects and the primary genetic control of longevity operates through selection to raise or lower the investment in basic cellular maintenance systems in relation to the level of environmental hazard.