Absence of the trade-off between the size and number of offspring in the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita)

✍ Scribed by Miguel Tejedo

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 275 KB
• Volume: 90
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0029-8549
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00317189

✦ Synopsis

A trade-off between size and number of offspring was not found for females of similar sizes of the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita). Moreover, for large females, clutches with higher number of eggs had larger eggs as well. This suggests that larger females produce more numerous and larger eggs because they potentially have more energy available for reproduction. Egg size diminished allometrically with clutch size. Egg size, however, did not increase offspring fitness. Therefore, this allometric decrease may be considered a consequence of phylogenetic constraints rather than a result of optimizing selection.