You are doing a study of birds and are estimating the fitness of each individual

Question

You are doing a study of birds and are estimating the fitness of each individual. The birds in your study typically stay at their birth nest in year 2 to help raise the next clutch of brothers and sisters before dispersing to establish their own nexst in year 3. Parents can raise small clutches on their own but can double their clutch size if they have a helper or two. For Male A, you calculated his direct fitness by counting the number of offsrping he produced in year 3 and beyond. To calculate his indirect fitness, you took the total number of offspring produced in his birth nest by his biological parent in year 2 and multipled it by 1/8. Later you realize this is incorrect. Describe two things you did wrong and explain how you should fix it?

Explanation / Answer

Males may not be the perfect candidate for estimating the fitness of each individual. Rather, Females can be used as candidates and their direct fitness can be calculated by counting her number of offsprings (fecundity), and the number of males she mated with (polyandry).

For indirect fitness calculations, use the number of her biological siblings and number of off springs they produced. This will suggest the comparative fitness of the female.

Inclusive fitness formula= own contribution+ relative

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