An ecological explanation for hyperallometric scaling of reproduction
Potter, Tomos and Felmy, Anja LU
(2022)
In Functional Ecology
36(6).
p.1513-1523
- Abstract
In wild populations, large individuals have disproportionately higher reproductive output than smaller individuals. Some theoretical models explain this pattern—termed reproductive hyperallometry—by individuals allocating a greater fraction of available energy towards reproductive effort as they grow. Here, we propose a simple ecological explanation for this observation: differences between individuals in rates of resource assimilation, where greater assimilation causes both increased reproduction and body size, resulting in reproductive hyperallometry at the level of the population. We illustrate this effect by determining the relationship between size and reproduction in wild and laboratory-reared Trinidadian guppies. We show that (a)... (More)
In wild populations, large individuals have disproportionately higher reproductive output than smaller individuals. Some theoretical models explain this pattern—termed reproductive hyperallometry—by individuals allocating a greater fraction of available energy towards reproductive effort as they grow. Here, we propose a simple ecological explanation for this observation: differences between individuals in rates of resource assimilation, where greater assimilation causes both increased reproduction and body size, resulting in reproductive hyperallometry at the level of the population. We illustrate this effect by determining the relationship between size and reproduction in wild and laboratory-reared Trinidadian guppies. We show that (a) reproduction increased disproportionately with body size in the wild but not in the laboratory, where resource competition was eliminated; (b) in the wild, hyperallometry was greatest during the wet season, when resource competition is strongest; and (c) detection of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction at the population level was inevitable if individual differences in assimilation were ignored. We propose that ecologically driven variation in assimilation—caused by size-dependent resource competition, niche expansion and chance—contributes substantially to observations of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction in natural populations. We recommend that models incorporate such ecologically caused variation when seeking to explain reproductive hyperallometry. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
(Less)
- author
- Potter, Tomos
and Felmy, Anja
LU
- publishing date
- 2022-06
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- bioenergetic models, common garden experiments, competitive asymmetry, Poecilia reticulata, size-dependent competition, wild populations, Yule–Simpson effect
- in
- Functional Ecology
- volume
- 36
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85128052390
- ISSN
- 0269-8463
- DOI
- 10.1111/1365-2435.14045
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: We are very grateful to David Reznick for providing the datasets used here, to Tim Coulson and his group for incredibly helpful discussions, and to Dustin Marshall for a fun email discussion which inspired this study. T.P. received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom) through the Oxford Environmental Research Doctoral Training Program, and from a Lamb and Flag scholarship from St John's College, Oxford. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
- id
- e3b16a6c-2fd3-4dfb-96c4-66d732e0482f
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-11 11:10:36
- date last changed
- 2023-12-14 14:00:18
@article{e3b16a6c-2fd3-4dfb-96c4-66d732e0482f,
abstract = {{<p>In wild populations, large individuals have disproportionately higher reproductive output than smaller individuals. Some theoretical models explain this pattern—termed reproductive hyperallometry—by individuals allocating a greater fraction of available energy towards reproductive effort as they grow. Here, we propose a simple ecological explanation for this observation: differences between individuals in rates of resource assimilation, where greater assimilation causes both increased reproduction and body size, resulting in reproductive hyperallometry at the level of the population. We illustrate this effect by determining the relationship between size and reproduction in wild and laboratory-reared Trinidadian guppies. We show that (a) reproduction increased disproportionately with body size in the wild but not in the laboratory, where resource competition was eliminated; (b) in the wild, hyperallometry was greatest during the wet season, when resource competition is strongest; and (c) detection of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction at the population level was inevitable if individual differences in assimilation were ignored. We propose that ecologically driven variation in assimilation—caused by size-dependent resource competition, niche expansion and chance—contributes substantially to observations of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction in natural populations. We recommend that models incorporate such ecologically caused variation when seeking to explain reproductive hyperallometry. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.</p>}},
author = {{Potter, Tomos and Felmy, Anja}},
issn = {{0269-8463}},
keywords = {{bioenergetic models; common garden experiments; competitive asymmetry; Poecilia reticulata; size-dependent competition; wild populations; Yule–Simpson effect}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{1513--1523}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Functional Ecology}},
title = {{An ecological explanation for hyperallometric scaling of reproduction}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14045}},
doi = {{10.1111/1365-2435.14045}},
volume = {{36}},
year = {{2022}},
}