THE EVOLUTION OF CLUTCH SIZE. II. A TEST OF THE MURRAY-NOLAN EQUATION

Bertram G Murray Jr; John W Fitzpatrick; Glen E Woolfenden

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1989.tb02620.x

THE EVOLUTION OF CLUTCH SIZE. II. A TEST OF THE MURRAY-NOLAN EQUATION

Evolution. 1989 Dec;43(8):1706-1711. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1989.tb02620.x.

Authors

Bertram G Murray Jr¹, John W Fitzpatrick², Glen E Woolfenden³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, P.O. Box 1059, Piscataway, NJ, 08855.
² Division of Birds, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, 60605.
³ Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620.

PMID: 28564322
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1989.tb02620.x

Abstract

We test the Murray-Nolan equation for calculating clutch sizes of birds with demographic data from a long-term study of the Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma c. coerulescens). The predicted value, 3.43, is very close to the observed clutch size, 3.33. This result provides further support for the equation's being an adequate description of the relationship among the factors affecting the clutch size of birds.