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Bet-hedging as an evolutionary game: the trade-off between egg size and number.

Olofsson, Helen ; Ripa, Jörgen LU orcid and Jonzén, Niclas LU (2009) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 276. p.2963-2969
Abstract
Bet-hedging theory addresses how individuals should optimize fitness in varying and unpredictable environments by sacrificing mean fitness to decrease variation in fitness. So far, three main bet-hedging strategies have been described: conservative bet-hedging (play it safe), diversified bet-hedging (don't put all eggs in one basket) and adaptive coin flipping (choose a strategy at random from a fixed distribution). Within this context, we analyse the trade-off between many small eggs (or seeds) and few large, given an unpredictable environment. Our model is an extension of previous models and allows for any combination of the bet-hedging strategies mentioned above. In our individual-based model (accounting for both ecological and... (More)
Bet-hedging theory addresses how individuals should optimize fitness in varying and unpredictable environments by sacrificing mean fitness to decrease variation in fitness. So far, three main bet-hedging strategies have been described: conservative bet-hedging (play it safe), diversified bet-hedging (don't put all eggs in one basket) and adaptive coin flipping (choose a strategy at random from a fixed distribution). Within this context, we analyse the trade-off between many small eggs (or seeds) and few large, given an unpredictable environment. Our model is an extension of previous models and allows for any combination of the bet-hedging strategies mentioned above. In our individual-based model (accounting for both ecological and evolutionary forces), the optimal bet-hedging strategy is a combination of conservative and diversified bet-hedging and adaptive coin flipping, which means a variation in egg size both within clutches and between years. Hence, we show how phenotypic variation within a population, often assumed to be due to non-adaptive variation, instead can be the result of females having this mixed strategy. Our results provide a new perspective on bet-hedging and stress the importance of extreme events in life history evolution. (Less)
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author
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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
volume
276
pages
2963 - 2969
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • wos:000267881500013
  • scopus:68249094616
  • pmid:19474039
ISSN
1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2009.0500
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f8613e57-249b-46c0-9411-719a6da35f22 (old id 1411946)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:06:01
date last changed
2022-04-06 02:33:58
@article{f8613e57-249b-46c0-9411-719a6da35f22,
  abstract     = {{Bet-hedging theory addresses how individuals should optimize fitness in varying and unpredictable environments by sacrificing mean fitness to decrease variation in fitness. So far, three main bet-hedging strategies have been described: conservative bet-hedging (play it safe), diversified bet-hedging (don't put all eggs in one basket) and adaptive coin flipping (choose a strategy at random from a fixed distribution). Within this context, we analyse the trade-off between many small eggs (or seeds) and few large, given an unpredictable environment. Our model is an extension of previous models and allows for any combination of the bet-hedging strategies mentioned above. In our individual-based model (accounting for both ecological and evolutionary forces), the optimal bet-hedging strategy is a combination of conservative and diversified bet-hedging and adaptive coin flipping, which means a variation in egg size both within clutches and between years. Hence, we show how phenotypic variation within a population, often assumed to be due to non-adaptive variation, instead can be the result of females having this mixed strategy. Our results provide a new perspective on bet-hedging and stress the importance of extreme events in life history evolution.}},
  author       = {{Olofsson, Helen and Ripa, Jörgen and Jonzén, Niclas}},
  issn         = {{1471-2954}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{2963--2969}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Bet-hedging as an evolutionary game: the trade-off between egg size and number.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0500}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2009.0500}},
  volume       = {{276}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}