Life history consequences of fixed costs of reproduction

• The distinction between fixed and variable factors of production and their corresponding costs has: long played a fundamental role in economic theory. However, in analyses of life history evolution a distinction between fixed and variable costs of reproduction has not been made. In this paper. I discuss these concepts and analyze some effects of fixed costs of reproduction on reproductive decisions. While some fitness functions do not allow fixed costs of reproduction to affect optimal reproductive effort, others do. Increasing fixed costs reduces total fitness and increases the level of investment required to obtain a reproductive profit. Increased fixed costs may also narrow the parameter space of reproductive effort for positive profit. These results are discussed in the perspectives of age at maturity and the evolution of semelparity.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)