•According to Lack’s hypothesis, natural selection should favor birds that lay 12 egg clutches because they result in more surviving offspring. Do the results of this experiment match the prediction from Lack’s hypothesis? Explain.
•A larger percentage of birds in the study population laid 8 – 9 eggs but this resulted in lower survival of the young. What factors might keep the birds from maximizing their reproductive output?
•Do your results support or reject your hypothesis? Explain.
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To some experts, it appears that tropical birds seem to lay fewer eggs than birds in other non-tropical environments. This is suggested due to latitude conditions of various bird species. Although natural selection would theoretically increase the number of eggs laid by the birds over a long course of time, it seems the hypothesis made by one individual would only cause the birds to produce the needed number of eggs to keep the bird population stable. This, of course, did not catch on amongst the scientific community and Lack proposed the Theory of Optimal Clutch ...
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