The Evolution of Life Histories

by Stearns, Stephen C.

• ISBN13: 9780198577416
• ISBN10: 0198577419
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-07-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book is the first comprehensive summary of life-history evolution, a field that holds a central position in modern ecology, evolution, and population biology. The book offers an up-to-date description of the analytical tools used in evolutionary explanation: demographics, quantitative genetics, reaction norms, trade-offs, and phylogenetic/comparative analysis. It goes on to discuss the evolution of such major life-history traits as age and size at maturity; clutch size, reproductive investment and size of offspring; reproductive lifespan; and aging. This is an essential text for biologists wishing to understand the evolution of the life cycle and the causes of phenotypic variation in fitness. It is additionally the only book available designed specifically for teaching the subject, with problems and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

Table of Contents

Prologue
The forest	1	(1)
The reef	2	(1)
The plum	3	(2)
The albatross	5	(1)
The problem	5	(4)
PART I: THE ELEMENTS OF EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION
Evolutionary explanation	9	(11)
Chapter overview	9	(1)
Introduction	9	(1)
Context	9	(1)
Life history traits	10	(1)
An explanatory framework	11	(2)
Chapter previews for Part I	13	(1)
Natural selection and fitness	14	(2)
Adaptation and constraint	16	(2)
Recommended reading	18	(2)
Demography: age and stage structure	20	(19)
Chapter overview	20	(1)
Introduction	20	(1)
Life tables	21	(2)
The Euler-Lotka equation	23	(2)
Calculating r	25	(1)
The stable age distribution	25	(1)
Generation time	26	(1)
Rates of increase	26	(1)
Reproductive value	26	(2)
Residual reproductive value and the costs of reproduction	28	(1)
Age and stage distributions	29	(2)
Fitness measures	31	(2)
Comment on fitness	33	(1)
Sensitivity and elasticity	33	(1)
Situational sensitivity	34	(1)
Summary of introductory demography	35	(1)
Recommended reading	36	(1)
Problems	37	(1)
Appendix: a Pascal program to calculate r	38	(1)
Quantitative genetics and reaction norms	39	(33)
Chapter overview	39	(1)
Introduction	40	(1)
The basic model	41	(7)
Heritabilities of life history traits	48	(1)
Selection on quantitative traits	49	(2)
How is genetic variation for life history traits maintained?	51	(2)
Genetic covariance	53	(2)
Maximum likelihood estimates	55	(1)
Measurements of genetic covariances for life history traits	55	(5)
Quantitative genetics in heterogeneous environments	60	(1)
The heritability of phenotypic plasticity	61	(2)
Other ways to quantify plasticity	63	(2)
The integration of the plastic response	65	(1)
Connecting quantitative genetics to demography	65	(3)
Closing comment	68	(1)
Chapter summary	69	(1)
Recommended reading	69	(1)
Problems	70	(2)
Trade-offs	72	(19)
Chapter overview	72	(1)
Introduction	72	(3)
Physiological trade-offs	75	(4)
Microevolutionary trade-offs: intra-individual and intergenerational	79	(1)
Why might we observe the `wrong' trade-off?	80	(2)
Current reproduction vs. survival	82	(2)
Current vs. future reproduction	84	(1)
Reproduction vs. growth	85	(1)
Current reproduction vs. condition	86	(1)
Number vs. size of offspring	86	(2)
Discussion	88	(1)
Chapter summary	89	(1)
Recommended reading	89	(1)
Problems	89	(2)
Lineage-specific effects	91	(24)
Chapter overview	91	(1)
Introduction	91	(1)
Examples of lineage-specific effects	92	(2)
What a lineage is and how to define it	94	(1)
Applications of cladistics to ecology	95	(4)
Statistical approaches to the comparative method	99	(9)
The origin of phylogenetic effects	108	(3)
Discussion: can comparative results demonstrate adaptation?	111	(2)
Chapter summary	113	(1)
Recommended reading	113	(1)
Problems	114	(1)
Discussion of Part I	115	(91)
Discussion overview	115	(1)
Constraints	115	(1)
The rate of evolution of life history traits	115	(3)
The interpretation of optimality models	118	(1)
Problems	119	(4)
PART II: THE EVOLUTION OF THE MAJOR LIFE HISTORY TRAITS
Age and size at maturity	123	(27)
Chapter overview	123	(1)
Introduction	123	(2)
Patterns of maturation	125	(3)
Optimality models of age and size at maturity	128	(5)
Predicting optimal age and size at maturity: maximizing r	133	(3)
Extending the model from population means to reaction norms	136	(9)
Predicting optimal age and size at maturity: maximizing expected number of offspring	145	(3)
Discussion	148	(1)
Chapter summary	149	(1)
Problems	149	(1)
Number and size of offspring	150	(30)
Chapter overview	150	(1)
Introduction	151	(2)
Background: the natural history of clutch and offspring size	153	(2)
Effects causing deviations from the Lack clutch	155	(19)
Size of offspring	174	(4)
Chapter summary	178	(1)
Recommended reading	179	(1)
Problems	179	(1)
Reproductive lifespan and ageing	180	(26)
Chapter overview	180	(1)
Introduction	181	(2)
A phylogenetic perspective on lifespan	183	(3)
Selection for longer reproductive lifespan 1: mean mortality rates	186	(7)
Selection for longer reproductive lifespan 2: variation in mortality rates	193	(6)
Intrinsic effects limiting the lifespan of the disposable soma: ageing	199	(6)
Chapter summary	205	(1)
Recommended reading	205	(1)
Problem	205	(1)
Discussion of Part II	206	(15)
Life history strategies	206	(2)
Are any general models useful?	208	(1)
Are there any genetic constraints at all?	208	(1)
Extensions of life history theory	209	(1)
Potential applications of life history theory	210	(1)
Paradoxes	211	(1)
Problems	211	(1)
Appendices
1 Genetic correlations of life history traits	212	(2)
2 Evidence on trade-offs	214	(5)
3 Elementary allometry	219	(2)
Glossary	221	(3)
References	224	(20)
Author index	244	(3)
Subject index	247