The Effect of Clutch Size Errors on Fitness: A Hypothesis

I propose the hypothesis of errors in clutch size to conciliate two apparent contradictions: 1) females adjust clutch size to particular conditions, 2) the largest clutch sizes have lower fitness and larger variance in fitness than smaller clutch sizes. If erroneous clutch sizes occur, clutch size will not always reflect parental quality. Erroneously enlarged clutches will be more frequent in the largest clutches, while the opposite occurs for erroneously reduced clutches. Thus fitness in relation to clutch size will be greater for intermediate rather than large clutches. Fitness in relation to parental quality is, however, only dependent on the probability of clutch size error; therefore a linear positive relationship would be expected between parental quality different optimal clutch sizes