Allocation of limited reserves to a clutch: A model explaining the lack of a relationship between clutch size and egg size

Lack (1967, 1968) proposed that clutch size in waterfowl is limited by the nutrients available to females when producing eggs. He suggested that if nutrients available for clutch formation are limited, then species producing small eggs would, on average, lay more eggs than species with large eggs. Rohwer (1988) argues that this model should also apply within species. Thus, the nutrition-limitation hypothesis predicts a tradeoff among females between clutch size and egg size (Rohwer 1988). Field studies of single species consistently have failed to detect a negative relationship between clutch size and egg size (Rohwer 1988, Lessells et al. 1992, Rohwer and Eisenhauer 1989, Flint and Sedinger 1992, Flint and Grand 1996). The absence of such a relationship within species has been regarded as evidence against the hypothesis that nutrient availability limits clutch size (Rohwer 1988, 1991, 1992; Rohwer and Eisenhauer 1989).