PMC

The comparison between fixed and reserve-dependent immune investments. (a) The baseline case: curve, the survival probability as a function of fixed (not changing with reserves) immune investment; triangle, the optimal fixed investment; circle, the mean investment and survival probability under the optimal reserve-dependent strategy. (b) The relation between the survival probability and the relative survival under fixed investment to that under reserve-dependent investment for different parameters. Relative survival was calculated as S_fixed/S_reserve, where S_i is the appropriate survival value for the given investment scheme (fixed or reserve-dependent). The symbols show the parameter that was varied to obtain the survival values. All other parameters are the same as given in the electronic supplementary material, table 1. The probability of death from disease, D(u, z), is given by equation .

A schematic of the individual energetic dynamic framework illustrating 1) per-litter energetic investment , 2) investment in somatic reserves , and 3) litter size, .

Forward simulation showing the change in population mean female state based on optimal reproductive decisions. Here, females begin the breeding season with an arbitrary distribution of energetic reserves and the overall pattern is decreasing reserves throughout the breeding season. The pattern of decline in condition is similar for a our baseline parameter set that predicts a DA pattern of investment and a ‘good offspring’ set (where offspring exhibit relatively high fitness independent of parental investment relative to the baseline finch model; see text for additional details) which predicts RC. Circles, baseline (DA); squares, good offspring (RC).

Illustration of the step-by-step fitting procedure of an individual goat time series BW with adjustment of each GRUM component (G = growth; R = reserves balance; U = uterine load; and M = maternal investment).