Life History Evolution in Tropical and South Temperate Birds: What Do We Really Know?

ity in driving life history evolution (e.g., Cole 1954, Murphy 1968, Charlesworth 1980, Reznick and Bryga 1987, Curio 1989, Reznick et al. 1990). Yet, food is thought to be more important in birds (Lack 1948, 1968, Murphy and Haukioja 1986, Martin 1987). Nest predation is a theoretical alternative to food limitation (Slagsvold 1982, Lima 1987, Martin 1992) and recent evidence suggests that nest predation may exert a greater influence on life history evolution than previously thought (Slagsvold 1982, Martin 1993a, b, 1995, Martin and Clobert 1996, McCleery et al. 1996). However, nest predation may often interact with food limitation to influence life history traits (Lima 1987, Martin 1992, 1995). These contrasting and interacting roles of food limitation versus mortality (nest predation) make birds an intriguing system for examining ecological and evolutionary causes of life history variation.