Talk:Lack's principle

Clarification on "fewer fledglings"

I've read various definitions of Lack's principle in papers and summaries, all of which share an ambiguity: a bird that lays fewer young than it can provide enough food will yield "fewer fledglings." Fewer than what? Fewer than the number of eggs it laid? That's nearly tautological, so it seems to me the principle must be "...fewer fledglings than if it had laid fewer eggs." E.g., a bird that can optimally feed 5 young will produce 5 fledglings when it lays 5 eggs and will produce 3 fledglings when it lays 7 eggs. These two interpretations lead to drastically different predictions, so it's worth clarifying. Anthropoentomophagology (talk) 16:57, 30 June 2022 (UTC)