All organisms face two fundamental trade-offs in the allocation of energetic resources: one
between many small versus a few large offspring, and the second between present and …

Intraspecific variation in offspring size is of fundamental ecological and evolutionary
importance. The level of provisioning an organism receives from its mother can have far …

Interspecific variation in egg size of marine invertebrates has been previously explained by
a trade-off between gamete quality and quantity: the production of many small eggs with …

The role of fertilization ecology in the life-history evolution of marine organisms has received
growing attention in the last decade (Pennington 1985; Denny and Shibata 1989; Levitan …

Substantial variation in reproductive success is made possible by the great fecundity and
high early mortality of many marine organisms. A small minority of individuals can replace …

Free-spawning marine invertebrates release eggs into the environment, where they are
fertilized, develop, and grow without further parental investment. This trait provides a unique …

Gamete age has been postulated to be unimportant to the fertilization ecology of marine
invertebrates. However, recent research suggests that, for some species at least, it may have …

The dominant'demographic'theory of life history evolution supposes that different lifetime
patterns of reproduction are the result of selection of alternative optimal solutions for the …

The majority of deep-sea invertebrates appear to reproduce" continuously" while some
species show a marked seasonal rhythm. Deep-sea habitats are not as unvarying as once …

Reproductive strategies and parental effects play a major role in shaping early life-history
traits. Although polyandry is a common reproductive strategy, its role is still poorly …