Answer to Question #107331 in Ecology for Mary

Question

Identify one life history trade off. Now briefly describe an experiment/study to test the hypothesis that the optimal solution to this trade off differs as a function in environmental variation (it is not the same in all habitats and can be predicted) identify what prediction you are testing , and describe how your experiment/study in detail

Answer 1

Energy use in life history strategies is regulated by thermodynamics and the conservation of energy, and the "inherent scarcity of resources", so not all traits or tasks can be invested in at the same time. Thus, organisms must choose between tasks, such as growth, reproduction, and survival, prioritizing some and not others. For example, there is a trade-off between maximizing body size and maximizing lifespan, and between maximizing offspring size and maximizing offspring number. This is also sometimes seen as a choice between quantity and quality of offspring.

For example, animals living in the north have a large layer of fat, in contrast to animals living in the south, due to the fact that it is very difficult to find food in the winter.