Resource allocation within individuals may often be hierarchical, and this may have important effects on genetic correlations and on trait evolution. For example, organisms may divide energy between reproduction and somatic growth and then subdivide reproductive resources. Genetic variation in allocation to pathways early in such hierarchies (e.g., reproduction) can cause positive genetic corre...

production, reproduction, management and economic parameters resulted from recordings of 5 flocks comprised of 720 heads of native goats during annual cycle of reproduction in transhumance, village and farming systems were employed to determine the performance of traits, cost-profit analysis as well as breeding objective. the overall mean for number of salable kid per goat in transhumance, vill...

Costs associated with reproduction are widely known to play a role in the evolution of reproductive tactics with consequences to population and eco-evolutionary dynamics. Evaluating these costs as they pertain to species in the wild remains an important goal of evolutionary ecology. Individual heterogeneity, including differences in individual quality (i.e., among-individual differences in trai...

A cost of reproduction, where lifespan and fecundity are negatively correlated, is of widespread occurrence. Mutations in insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) pathways and dietary restriction (DR) can extend lifespan in model organisms but do not always reduce fecundity, suggesting that the link between lifespan and fecundity is not inevitable. Understanding the molecular basis of the cost of reproducti...

Intraspecific competition and food shortage due to high population density during early life can have a profound effect on adult fitness. Organisms often mitigate negative effects of by adjusting resource allocation morphological life-history traits. In Lepidoptera with short-lived adults that do not feed, it is predicted females developed from dense larval aggregations invest more in reproduct...

Methods Stage-structured populations of species differing in traits and habitat requirements competed for space in a grid-based model. Demographic processes (recruitment, reproduction, mortality, dispersal) and resource competition were explicitly simulated. Demographic rates and carrying capacity followed metabolic constraints. We simulated 50 species pools until reaching stable communities. S...

Parasites and their infections can adversely effect a host's growth, reproduction and survival. These effects are often not immediate, but increase with time since infection. A general prediction from evolutionary biology is that hosts suffering from this type of infection should preferentially allocate resources towards reproduction, even if this is at the expense of their growth and survival....