Fig. 1.

Preadult periods of adaptive plasticity in the transition between life-history phases (double arrows). Prenatal growth affects adult health and disease. The transition from infancy to childhood confers a predictive adaptive response that determines adult height. The transition from childhood to juvenility bestows an adaptive response that resolves adult body composition and metabolic consequences. The transition from juvenility to adolescence establishes longevity and the age of reproduction and fecundity. IC, Infancy-childhood (transition).