Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Energy Budgets00:51

Energy Budgets

9.8K
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...
9.8K
Life Histories01:29

Life Histories

16.3K
Overview
16.3K
Parental Care00:55

Parental Care

11.7K
Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.
11.7K
Inclusive Fitness00:57

Inclusive Fitness

23.6K
Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
23.6K
Production Efficiency01:01

Production Efficiency

15.7K
Net production efficiency (NPE) is the efficiency at which organisms assimilate energy into biomass for the next trophic level. Due to low metabolic rates and less energy spent on thermoregulatory processes, the NPE of ectotherms (cold-blooded animals) is 10 times higher than endotherms (warm-blooded animals).
15.7K
Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

8.3K
Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
8.3K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A DEB-TKTD model for assessing the combined effects of imidacloprid, temperature and food availability on aquatic insects.

Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands)·2026
Same author

A Nutritional Bioenergetic Model for Farmed Fish: Effects of Food Composition on Growth, Oxygen Consumption and Waste Production.

Aquaculture nutrition·2025
Same author

Modeling the Bioenergetics and Life History Traits of <i>Chironomus riparius</i>-Consequences of Food Limitation.

Insects·2024
Same author

The consequences of sea lamprey parasitism on lake trout energy budgets.

Conservation physiology·2023
Same author

Multidimensional scaling for animal traits in the context of dynamic energy budget theory.

Conservation physiology·2022
Same author

Energetic basis for bird ontogeny and egg-laying applied to the bobwhite quail.

Conservation physiology·2022

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 3, 2026

Basic Methods for the Study of Reproductive Ecology of Fish in Aquaria
07:25

Basic Methods for the Study of Reproductive Ecology of Fish in Aquaria

Published on: July 20, 2017

11.3K

Resource allocation to reproduction in animals.

Sebastiaan A L M Kooijman1, Konstadia Lika

  • 1Department of Theoretical Biology, VU University Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|February 13, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Reproduction is generally not maximized in animals, with 83% of species allocating too much energy to reproduction according to Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models. This suggests energy trade-offs influence life history strategies.

Keywords:
allocation to somaanimal reproductionchicken egg productiondynamic energy budgetselection

More Related Videos

Determination of Reproductive Competence by Confirming Pubertal Onset and Performing a Fertility Assay in Mice and Rats
06:38

Determination of Reproductive Competence by Confirming Pubertal Onset and Performing a Fertility Assay in Mice and Rats

Published on: October 13, 2018

15.3K
Reproductive Techniques for Ovarian Monitoring and Control in Amphibians
04:37

Reproductive Techniques for Ovarian Monitoring and Control in Amphibians

Published on: May 12, 2019

17.0K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 3, 2026

Basic Methods for the Study of Reproductive Ecology of Fish in Aquaria
07:25

Basic Methods for the Study of Reproductive Ecology of Fish in Aquaria

Published on: July 20, 2017

11.3K
Determination of Reproductive Competence by Confirming Pubertal Onset and Performing a Fertility Assay in Mice and Rats
06:38

Determination of Reproductive Competence by Confirming Pubertal Onset and Performing a Fertility Assay in Mice and Rats

Published on: October 13, 2018

15.3K
Reproductive Techniques for Ovarian Monitoring and Control in Amphibians
04:37

Reproductive Techniques for Ovarian Monitoring and Control in Amphibians

Published on: May 12, 2019

17.0K

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Zoology

Background:

  • The Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model describes energy allocation in animals.
  • A key parameter, kappa (κ), represents the fraction of mobilized energy allocated to maintenance and growth versus maturation or reproduction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To empirically test whether animal reproduction is maximized.
  • To compare energy allocation strategies (κ) across 276 animal species.
  • To investigate the impact of artificial selection on reproduction in chickens.

Main Methods:

  • Estimated DEB parameters, including κ, for 276 animal species.
  • Compared estimated κ values with those predicted to maximize reproduction under optimal conditions.
  • Analyzed differences in κ between wild chickens and selectively bred domestic races.

Main Results:

  • 83% of species exhibited κ values higher than optimal for reproduction, indicating reproduction is generally not maximized.
  • Only 17% of species showed reproduction rates near or below the theoretical maximum.
  • Domesticated chickens selected for production showed maximized κ, unlike wild chickens.

Conclusions:

  • Empirical evidence strongly suggests that reproduction is typically not maximized across diverse animal species.
  • High κ values may indicate down-regulation of reproduction, while low κ values might relate to down-regulation of body size.
  • Artificial selection can lead to maximized reproductive energy allocation, as seen in domestic poultry.