Covariances Between Traits Deriving From Successive Allocations of a Resource
Guilherme de Jong · Functional Ecology · 1993
The sign and magnitude of covariances between traits involved in a trade-off depend upon two factors: the trade-off pattern between the amounts of resource devoted to the traits and the transformation from amount of resource to trait. Let a single resource be divided over many traits, leading to a complicated pattern of trade-offs between the traits. A trade-off pattern can be modelled as a «tree», with resource acquisition as the trunk, each allocation decision as a dichotomous «branching point» and the amount of resource devoted to a trait at the outer end of the branches. In a «major» allocation, the fractions of resource going to each of the two alternative'branches'are appreciable. In the presence of variation in acquisition and in the allocations, the covariances between the amounts of resource allocated to the traits are shown to depend upon their position relative to the allocation tree and upon allocation magnitudes