Authors: Hayley Cameron, Keyne Monro, and Dustin J Marshall

Published in: Ecology Letters, volume 20, issue 8 (August 2017)

Abstract

Within-brood variation in offspring size is universal, but its causes are unclear. Theoretical explanations for within-brood variation commonly invoke bet-hedging, although alternatives consider the role of sibling competition. Despite abundant theory, empirical manipulations of within-brood variation in offspring size are rare.

Using a field experiment, we investigate the consequences of unequal maternal provisioning for both maternal and offspring fitness in a marine invertebrate. We create experimental broods of siblings with identical mean, but different variance, in offspring size, and different sibling densities.

Overall, more-variable broods had higher mean performance than less-variable broods, suggesting benefits of unequal provisioning that arise independently of bet-hedging. Complementarity effects drove these benefits, apparently because offspring-size variation promotes resource partitioning.

We suggest that when siblings compete for the same resources, and offspring size affects niche usage, the production of more-variable broods can provide greater fitness returns given the same maternal investment; a process unanticipated by the current theory.

Citation

Cameron H, Monro K, Marshall DJ (2017) Should mothers provision their offspring equally? A manipulative field test. Ecology Letters, PDF 799 KB  doi:10.1111/ele.12800