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. These birds 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 nest 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 X, you calculated his direct fitness by counting the number of offspring he produced in Year 3 and beyond.  Male X stayed home in year 2 to help raise the offspring of his father and his father’s new mate (Male X’s mother died over winter). To calculate his indirect fitness, you took the total number of offspring produced in his birth nest by his father and stepmother in Year 2 and multiplied it by ½. Your research advisor tells you that you screwed up, and you become the laughing stock of your evolution class.  What TWO things did you do wrong? (4 points)

Explanation / Answer

First Thing which went wrong was the calculation of direct fitness because number of offsprings produced depends on female more than the male X.

Second thing is the method of calculation of indirect fitness.

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