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Perspectives in Ethology pp 49–77Cite as

Alternative Reproductive Tactics in Birds: Individual Variation in Clutch Size

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Abstract

Clutch size in birds varies considerably among individuals within a population and within a given year. I consider three hypotheses which may account for the maintenance of this variation: (I) Individual optimization. Birds are assumed to adjust clutch size according to their ability to rear young. Those able to rear successfully a large clutch do so; those not so able, it is maintained, do best (with respect to fitness) by rearing a small clutch. The hypothesis views clutch size variation as a conditional evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). (II) Tradeoff of clutch size and survival. Different clutch sizes produce equivalent “payoffs” (in terms of fitness) because of the tradeoff between clutch size and offspring survival and the tradeoff between clutch size and adult survival. The hypothesis posits a mixed ESS with respect to clutch size. (III) Year-to-year fluctuations in selection pressure. Selection favors different clutch sizes in different years; these fluctuations are essentially unpredictable. The population changes (genotypically) from year to year as a result of changes in the selection regime. The hypothesis does not posit evolutionary stability, i.e., populations are not in genetic equilibrium.

Evidence from studies on birds (especially Parus species) supports hypothesis III most strongly, though I and II cannot be ruled out. Instead, it is likely that all three mechanisms (individual optimization, tradeoffs, and temporal variability) contribute to the maintenance of clutch size variation. The efficacy of fluctuating selection pressures in maintaining observable variation in behavior has generally not been sufficiently appreciated. The implications of hypothesis III are that the world is not so unchanging as we might have thought; instead, populations are constantly evolving. If evolutionary stability is a limited (rather than a universal) phenomenon, then the power of ESS theory to explain diversity of behavior is also limited.

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Author notes

  1. Nadav Nur

    Present address: Abteilung Verhaltensphysiologie, Universität Tübingen, D-7400, Tübingen 1, West Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland

    Nadav Nur

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  1. Nadav Nur
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge, CB 3 8AA, England

    P. P. G. Bateson

  2. Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27706, USA

    Peter H. Klopfer

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© 1987 Plenum Press, New York

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Nur, N. (1987). Alternative Reproductive Tactics in Birds: Individual Variation in Clutch Size. In: Bateson, P.P.G., Klopfer, P.H. (eds) Perspectives in Ethology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1815-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1815-6_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9015-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1815-6

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