Reproductive gambling in bighorn sheep (ovis): A simulation

It has been hypothesized that bighorn sheep living in unpredictable desert environments may resort to a life history pattern of reproductive gambling in which they have increased fertility because of continuous breeding. To determine whether such gambling is in fact feasible, simulations of a seasonal and gambling population were run with survival schedules generated as functions of precipitation. Although annual per capita fertility was substantially increased in the gambling population, the seasonal strategy resulted in a higher finite rate of increase. These results indicate that reproductive gambling, as modeled, is not an ecologically stable strategy unless survival of offspring born outside the optimum period is substantially increased.