Most American Robins in a population lay 4 eggs per nest, through a few individuals lay 3 or 5 eggs.
a. what type of selection is acting on clutch size (# of babies/ nest)?
b. Write a hypothesis explaining why lay more eggs decreases fitness?
c. Write a hypothesis explaining why laying less eggs decreases fitness?
a) The American robins in a population lay only 4 eggs. As they are producing less offspring k selection is acting here. It will help them to maintain the equilibrium with the resource available.
b) Laying more eggs will decrease fitness largely due to inter-specific competition for the limited resource available.
c) Laying less egg will decrease fitness because the no of offspring will be less and hence the probability of survival after predation, intra-specific competition, and other negative environmental factor will be decreased.
Most American Robins in a population lay 4 eggs per nest, through a few individuals lay 3 or 5 eggs. a. what type of selection is acting on clutch size (# of babies/ nest)? b. Write a hypothesis expla...