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The Plymouth Student Scientist

Document Type

Literature Review

Abstract

In oviparous species such as birds, the investment in egg size is thought to represent a strong mechanism through which maternal effects can influence components of offspring fitness. Within several avian species egg size varies significantly and is often positively correlated with hatchling phenotype, growth and survival. However, there is little direct evidence for strong positive effects of egg size on offspring quality. This review aims to evaluate the current understanding of the effects of egg size on offspring fitness and assess the factors which confound many of the studies investigating egg size effects. It is concluded that despite extensive research, the exact relationship between avian egg size and offspring fitness remains undefined. Identifying egg size as the causal driver of changes in offspring quality continues to be a problem in all studies. Thus, in order to establish the effect of egg size per se, further studies are required which successfully control for potentially confounding variables which may obscure current results.

Publication Date

2014-07-01

Publication Title

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Volume

7

Issue

1

First Page

159

Last Page

171

ISSN

1754-2383

Deposit Date

May 2019

Embargo Period

2024-07-03

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/14056

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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