Ecology 6th Edition by Charles Krebs

Exercise 4

Figure 2.10 provides data that appear to contradict the Individual Optimization Hypothesis for the evolution of clutch size in birds. Are there any components of fitness in these birds that are ignored in Figure 2.10 and that might change the interpretational from an example of directional selection to one of stabilizing selection? Read de Heij et al. (2006) for a discussion.