Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The meanings of r- and K-selection

  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

This paper catalogues several different dichotomies that have all been termed r- and K-selection. The status of the concept of r- and K-selection is discussed and a more restricted usage of the terms is recommended.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrahamson WG, Gadgil M (1973) Growth form and reproductive effort in goldenrods. (Solidago, Compositae). Am Nat 107:651–661

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen JD (1976) Life history patterns in zooplankton. Am Nat 110:165–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong RA, Gilpin ME (1977) Evolution in a time-varying environment. Science 195:591–592

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson WD (1979) A comparison of the reproductive strategies of domestic species of Drosophila. J Anim Ecol 48:53–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa P (1977) r and K strategies in some larval and pupal parasitoids of the gypsy moth. Oecologia (Berl) 29:311–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell KL, Hiatt HD, Niles WE (1979) Seasonal changes in biomass allocation in eight winter annuals of the Mofave Desert. J Ecol 67:781–787

    Google Scholar 

  • Bostock SJ, Benton RA (1979) The reproductive strategies of five perennial Compositae. J Ecol 67:91–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyce MS (1979) Seasonality and patterns of natural selection for life histories. Am Nat 114:569–583

    Google Scholar 

  • Branch GM (1976) Interspecific competition experienced by South African Patella species. J Anim Ecol 45:507–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant DM (1979) Reproductive costs in the house martin (Delichon urbica). J Anim Ecol 48:655–675

    Google Scholar 

  • Calow P (1978) The evolution of life-cycle strategies in freshwater gastropods. Malacologia 17:351–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Calow P (1978) The cost of reproduction — a physiological approach. Biol Rev 54:23–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Calow P, Woollhead AS (1977) The relationship between ration, reproductive effort and age-specific mortality in the evolution of life-history strategies — some observations on freshwater triclads. J Anim Ecol 46:765–781

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlesworth B (1971) Selection in density-regulated populations. Ecology 52:469–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke A (1979) On living in cold water: K-strategies in antarctic benthos. Mar Biol 55:111–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke B (1972) Density-dependent selection. Am Nat 106:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody ML (1966) A general theory of clutch size. Evolution 20:174–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody ML, Diamond JM (1975) Introduction. In: ML Cody and JM Diamond (eds), Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts p 1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Demetrius L (1975) Reproductive strategies and natural selection. Am Nat 109:243–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Derickson WK (1976) Ecological and physiological aspects of reproductive strategies in two lizards. Ecology 57:445–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobzansky T (1950) Evolution in the tropics. Am Sci 38:209–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Esch GW, Hazen TC, Aho JM (1977) Parasitism and r- and K-selection. In: GW Esch (ed), Regulation of parasite populations. Academic Press New York p 9–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenchel T (1974) Intrinsic rate of natural increase: The relationship with body size. Oecologia (Berl) 14:317–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth AB, Robertson RJ (1975) K reproductive strategy and larval behaviour of the pitcher plant sarcophagid fly, Blaesoxipha fletcheri. Can J Zool 53:174–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil M, Bossert WH (1970) Life historical consequences of natural selection. Am Nat 104:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadgil M, Solbrig OT (1972) The concept of r- and K-selection: evidence from wild flowers and some theoretical considerations. Am Nat 106:14–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaines MS, Vogt KJ, Hamrick JL, Caldwell J (1974) Reproductive strategies and growth patterns in sunflowers (Helianthus). Am Nat 108:889–894

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1977) Ontogeny and phylogeny. Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • Grahame J (1977) Reproductive effort and r- and K-selection in two species of Lacuna (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Mar Biol 40:217–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1979) Competition and the struggle for existence. In: RM Anderson, BD Turner and LR Taylor (eds), Population dynamics, Proc. 20th Symp. B.E.S. Blackwell Scientific Publications Oxford p 123–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Hairston NG, Tinkle DW, Wilbur HM (1970) Natural selection and the parameters of population growth. J Wildl Manage 34:681–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Haukioja E, Hakala T (1978) Life history evolution in Anodonta piscinalis (Mollusca, Pelecypoda). Oecologia (Berl) 35:253–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiekman JC (1975) Environmental unpredictability and plastic energy allocation strategies in the annual Polygonum cascadense (Polygonaceae). J Ecol 63:689–701

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks GRF (1979) Pattern and strategy in the reproductive cycles of benthic harpacticoid copepods. In: Cyclic phenomena in marine plants and animals, Proc. 13th Euro. Mar Biol Symp Pergamon Press Oxford p 139–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshfield MF, Tinkle DW (1975) Natural selection and the evolution of reproductive effort. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 72:2227–2231

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn HS (1978) Optimal tactics of reproduction and life-history. In: JR Krebs and NB Davies (eds), Behavioural Ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications Oxford p 411–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings JB, Calow P (1975) The relationship between high fecundity and the evolution of entoparasitism. Oecologia (Berl) 21:109–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones JM (1975) The r-K-selection continuum. Am Nat 110:320–323

    Google Scholar 

  • King CE, Anderson WW (1971) Age-specific selection. II. The interaction between r and K during population growth. Am Nat 105:137–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Law R (1979a) Ecological determinants in the evolution of life histories. In: RM Anderson, BD Turner and LR Taylor (eds), Population dynamics, Proc. 20th Symp. B.E.S. Blackwell Scientific Publications Oxford p 81–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Law R (1979b) The cost of reproduction in annual meadow grass. Am Nat 113:3–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Law R, Bradshaw AD, Putwain PD (1977) Life-history variation in Poa annua. Evolution 31:233–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Leon JA (1976) Life histories as adaptive strategies. J Theor Biol 60:301–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Leutenegger W (1979) Evolution of litter size in primates. Am Nat 114:525–531

    Google Scholar 

  • Livdahl TP (1979) Environmental uncertainty and selection of life cycle delays in opportunistic species. Am Nat 113:835–842

    Google Scholar 

  • Loya Y (1976) The Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata is an r strategist. Nature 259:478–480

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckinbill LS (1979) Selection and the r/K continuum in experimental populations of protozoa. Am Nat 113:427–437

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH (1972) Geographical ecology. Harper and Row New York

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton SJ (1975) r- and K-selection in Typha. Am Nat 109:251–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Maiorana VC (1976) Size and environmental predictability for salamanders. Evolution 30:599–613

    Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA (1974) Effect of wave action and competition on brooding and reproductive effort in the sea star Leptasterias hexactis. Ecology 55:84–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore RJ (1978) Is Acanthaster plancki an r-strategist? Nature 271:56–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell SJ, Tramer EJ (1978) Reproductive strategies in herbaceous plant communities during succession. Ecology 59:228–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols JD, Conley W, Batt B, Tipton AR (1976) Temporally dynamic reproductive strategies and the concept of r- and K-selection. Am Nat 110:995–1005

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1970) On r- and K-selection. Am Nat 104:592–597

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1972) r and K selection or b and d selection? Am Nat 106:581–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1976) Natural selection of optimal reproductive tactics. Am Zool 16:775–784

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER, Parker WS (1975) Age-specific reproductive tactics. Am Nat 109:453–464

    Google Scholar 

  • Primack RB (1979) Reproductive effort in annual and perennial species of Plantago (Plantinaceae). Am Nat 114:51–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Rex MA (1979) r- and K-selection in a deep sea gastropod. Sarsia 64:29–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson BJ (1975) r and K selection in Kangaroos. Nature 255:323–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs RE (1977) On the evolution of reproductive strategies in birds: reproductive effort. Am Nat 111:453–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J (1971) Density dependent natural selection. Ecology 52:453–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaffer WM (1974) Selection for optimal life histories: the effects of age structure. Ecology 55:291–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaffer WM, Gadgil MD (1975) Selection for optimal life histories in plants. In: ML Cody and JM Diamond (eds), Ecology and evolution of communities. Harvard University Press Cambridge Massachusetts p 142–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith CC, Fretwell SD (1974) The optimal balance between size and number of offspring. Am Nat 108:499–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Solbrig OT, Simpson BB (1974) Components of regulation of a population of dandelions in Michigan. J Ecol 63:473–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Southwood TRE (1977) Habitat, the templet for ecological strategies? J Anim Ecol 46:337–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Southwood TRE, May RM, Hassell MP, Conway GR (1974) Ecological strategies and population parameters. Am Nat 108:791–804

    Google Scholar 

  • Stearns SC (1976) Life-history tactics: a review of the ideas. Q Rev Biol 51:3–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Stearns SC (1977) The evolution of life history traits: a critique of the theory and a review of the data. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 8:145–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Stubbs M (1978) Density dependence in the life-cycles of animals and its importance in K- and r-strategies. J Anim Ecol 46:677–688

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamarin RH (1978) Dispersal, population regulation, and K-selection in field mice. Am Nat 112:545–555

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RH, Goodman D (1979) Classifying species according to their demographic strategy. I. Population fluctuations and environmental heterogeneity. Am Nat 113:185–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilbur HM (1977) Propagule size, number, and dispersion pattern in Ambystoma and Asclepias. Am Nat 111:43–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilbur HM, Tinkle DW, Collins JP (1974) Environmental certainty, trophic level, and resource availability in life history evolution. Am Nat 108:805–817

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1966a) Adaptation and natural selection. Princeton University Press Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams GC (1966b) Natural selection, the costs of reproduction, and a refinement of Lack's principle. Am Nat 100:687–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Harvard University Press Cambridge Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO, Bossert WH (1971) A primer of population biology. sinauer Stamford, Connecticut

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Monash University, 3168, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Gregory D. Parry

Authors
  1. Gregory D. Parry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Parry, G.D. The meanings of r- and K-selection. Oecologia 48, 260–264 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347974

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347974

Keywords

Search

Navigation