Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

The optimal clutch size revisited: separating individual quality from the costs of reproduction

View ORCID ProfileLucy A. Winder, View ORCID ProfileMirre J.P. Simons, View ORCID ProfileTerry Burke
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.30.493969
Lucy A. Winder
1Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Lucy A. Winder
  • For correspondence: lwinder1@sheffield.ac.uk
Mirre J.P. Simons
1Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Mirre J.P. Simons
Terry Burke
1Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Terry Burke
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Life-history theory, central to our understanding of diversity in morphology, behaviour and senescence, describes how traits evolve through the optimisation of trade-offs in investment. Despite considerable study, there is only minimal support for trade-offs within species between the two traits most closely linked to fitness – reproduction and survival – questioning the theory’s general validity. We used a meta-analysis to separate quality effects from the costs of reproduction using studies of parental investment and survival in birds. Experimental enlargement of broods caused reduced parental survival. However, the effect of experimental enlargements was small and opposite to the effect of phenotypic quality, where individuals that naturally produced larger clutches also survived better. The opposite effects on survival in experimental and observational studies of parental care provides the first meta-analytic evidence for theory suggesting that quality differences mask trade-offs. Fitness projections using the overall effect size revealed that reproduction presented negligible costs, except when reproductive effort was forced beyond the level observed within species, to that seen between species. We conclude that there is little support for the most fundamental life-history trade-off, between reproduction and longevity, operating within a population. We suggest that within species, the fitness landscape of the reproduction– survival trade-off is flat until it reaches the boundaries of the between-species fast–slow life-history continuum. Our interpretation explains why the costs of reproduction are not apparent and why variation in reproductive output persists within species.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted May 30, 2022.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The optimal clutch size revisited: separating individual quality from the costs of reproduction
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
The optimal clutch size revisited: separating individual quality from the costs of reproduction
Lucy A. Winder, Mirre J.P. Simons, Terry Burke
bioRxiv 2022.05.30.493969; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.30.493969
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
The optimal clutch size revisited: separating individual quality from the costs of reproduction
Lucy A. Winder, Mirre J.P. Simons, Terry Burke
bioRxiv 2022.05.30.493969; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.30.493969

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Evolutionary Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4860)
  • Biochemistry (10811)
  • Bioengineering (8053)
  • Bioinformatics (27345)
  • Biophysics (13998)
  • Cancer Biology (11139)
  • Cell Biology (16077)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8793)
  • Ecology (13307)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (17375)
  • Genetics (11692)
  • Genomics (15939)
  • Immunology (11042)
  • Microbiology (26129)
  • Molecular Biology (10669)
  • Neuroscience (56655)
  • Paleontology (420)
  • Pathology (1737)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (3009)
  • Physiology (4555)
  • Plant Biology (9647)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1617)
  • Synthetic Biology (2694)
  • Systems Biology (6985)
  • Zoology (1511)