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Hatching asynchrony as a bet‐hedging strategy – an offspring diversity hypothesis
Author(s) -
Laaksonen Toni
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
oikos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1600-0706
pISSN - 0030-1299
DOI - 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.12858.x
Subject(s) - offspring , hatching , asynchrony (computer programming) , biology , competition (biology) , sibling , diversity (politics) , avian clutch size , zoology , ecology , evolutionary biology , reproduction , psychology , developmental psychology , genetics , computer science , pregnancy , computer network , asynchronous communication , sociology , anthropology
Many birds begin to incubate before their clutch is full, which results in the chicks hatching at different times. I propose that hatching asynchrony could serve as an adaptive parental strategy to produce phenotypic variation in the offspring through asymmetric sibling competition. Producing diverse offspring that follow variable life history strategies might be a risk‐spreading strategy in spatially and temporally variable environments.