title: Optimal allocation of resources to growth and reproduction: Implications for age and size at maturity.
abstract: The schedule of growth and reproduction is crucial to maximization of fitness. Models of optimal allocation of limiting resources are useful tools for predicting age and size at maturity - key components of fitness - for all lifestyles. Early models considered annual plants. Recently, they have been generalized to other short-lived organisms and also to perennials in which growth and reproduction schedules following maturation can be predicted. A review of existing models shows that differences in trophic conditions and mortality are the main sources of inter- and intraspecific variation in size.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Biology, Jagiellonian University, Oleandry 2a, 30-063 Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kozłowski