| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1991 |
| Authors: | P. H. Harvey, Keymer A. E. |
| Journal: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B |
| Volume: | 332 |
| Issue: | 1262 |
| Pagination: | 31 - 39 |
| Date Published: | 1991 |
| Keywords: | bird, body, coevolution, complex, food habits, Geomyidae, Mallophaga, mammal, reproduction, rodentia, size, thomomys, trichodectidae |
| Abstract: | The comparative method as recently developed can be used to identify statistically independent instances of life-history evolution. When life-history traits show evidence for correlated evolutionary change with each other or with ecological differences, it is often possible to single out the trade-offs and selective forces responsible for the evolution of life-history diversity. Suites of life-history characters often evolve in concert, and recent optimality models incorporating few variables show promise for interpreting that evolution in terms of few selective forces. Because hosts provide well-defined environments for their parasites, when host-parasite phylogenies are congruent it is possible to test ideas about the evolution of particular life-history and size-related traits. |