On the evolutionary constraint surface of hydra

Abstract

Food consumption, body size, and budding rate were measured simultaneously in isolated individual hydra of six strains. For each individual hydra the three measurements define a point in the three dimensional space with axes: food consumption, budding rate, and body size. These points lie on a single surface, regardless of species. Floating rate and incidence of sexuality map onto this surface. It is suggested that this surface is an example of a general class of evolutionary constraint surfaces derived from the conjunction of evolutinary theory and the theory of ecological resource budgets. These constraint surfaces correspond to microevolutionary domains.