Experimental manipulation of female reproduction reveals an intraspecific egg size-clutch size trade-off

A negative relationship, or trade-off, between egg size and clutch size is a central and long-standing component of life-history theory, yet there is little empirical evidence for such a trade-off, especially at the intraspecific level. Here, I show that female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) treated chronically during egg formation with the anti-oestrogen tamoxifen lay smaller eggs (by 8%) but produce larger clutches (on average two eggs more) than controls. Decreased egg mass in tamoxifen-treated females was associated with a 50% decrease in plasma levels of the two yolk precursors, vitellogenin and very-low-density lipoprotein. Although tamoxifen-treated females laid more, smaller eggs (and had a higher total expenditure in their clutch), they did not differ from controls in the number of chicks fledged, the mass or size of these chicks at fledging, or the chicks' egg-production performance at three months of age. However, tamoxifen-treated females had lower relative hatching success: they laid more eggs but hatched the same number of chicks. Among individual tamoxifen-treated females, birds that laid the smallest eggs early in their laying sequence laid the largest number of additional eggs, that is, there was a negative correlation, or trade-off, between egg size and clutch size.