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Résumé :
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Intraclutch egg size variation may non-adaptively result from nutritional/energetic constraints acting on laying females or may reflect adaptive differential investment in offspring in relation to laying/hatching order. This variation may contribute to size hierarchies among siblings already established due to hatching asynchrony, and resultant competitive asymmetries often lead to starvation of the weakest nestling within a brood. The costs in terms of chick mortality can be high. However, the extent to which this mortality is egg size-mediated remains unclear, especially in relation to hatching asynchrony which may operate concomitantly. I assessed effects of egg size and hatching asynchrony on nestling development and survival of Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus), where the smaller size and later hatching of c-eggs may represent a brood-reduction strategy. To analyze variation in egg size, I recorded the laying order and laying date of 870 eggs in 290 three-egg clutches over a 3-yr period (2010-2012). I measured hatchlings and monitored growth and survival of 130 chicks from enclosed nests in 2011 and 2012. The negative effect of laying date ( = -0.18 SE 0.06, P = 0.002) on c-egg size possibly reflected the fact that late breeders were either low quality or inexperienced females. The mass, size, and condition of hatchling Herring Gulls were positively related to egg size (all P
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