The Illusion of Invariant Quantities in Life Histories

by: Sean Nee, Nick Colegrave, Stuart A West, Alan Grafen

Science, Vol. 309, No. 5738. (19 August 2005), pp. 1236-1239.

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Abstract

Life-history theory attempts to provide evolutionary explanations for variations in the ways in which animal species live their lives. Recent analyses have suggested that the dimensionless ratios of several key life-history parameters are the same for different species, even across distant taxa. However, we show here that previous analyses may have given a false picture and created an illusion of invariants, which do not necessarily exist; essentially, this is because life-history variables have been regressed against themselves. The following question arises from our analysis: How do we identify an invariant?

@article{citeulike:298793, abstract = {Life-history theory attempts to provide evolutionary explanations for variations in the ways in which animal species live their lives. Recent analyses have suggested that the dimensionless ratios of several key life-history parameters are the same for different species, even across distant taxa. However, we show here that previous analyses may have given a false picture and created an illusion of invariants, which do not necessarily exist; essentially, this is because life-history variables have been regressed against themselves. The following question arises from our analysis: How do we identify an invariant?}, author = {Nee, Sean and Colegrave, Nick and West, Stuart A. and Grafen, Alan }, citeulike-article-id = {298793}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1114488}, journal = {Science}, month = {August}, number = {5738}, pages = {1236--1239}, posted-at = {2006-07-10 21:38:05}, priority = {3}, title = {The Illusion of Invariant Quantities in Life Histories}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1114488}, volume = {309}, year = {2005} }

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TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:298793 L3 - citeulike-article-id:298793 TI - The Illusion of Invariant Quantities in Life Histories JF - Science VL - 309 IS - 5738 SP - 1236 EP - 1239 N2 - Life-history theory attempts to provide evolutionary explanations for variations in the ways in which animal species live their lives. Recent analyses have suggested that the dimensionless ratios of several key life-history parameters are the same for different species, even across distant taxa. However, we show here that previous analyses may have given a false picture and created an illusion of invariants, which do not necessarily exist; essentially, this is because life-history variables have been regressed against themselves. The following question arises from our analysis: How do we identify an invariant? AU - Nee, Sean AU - Colegrave, Nick AU - West, Stuart AU - Grafen, Alan PY - 2005/08/19/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1114488 ER -

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