Figure 1.

Fluctuating selection acting on the timing of seed germination in L. inflata throughout five growing seasons ((a) 2002, (b) 2003, (c) 2004, (d) 2005 and (e) 2006). Seeds were manipulated to germinate at regular intervals throughout each season so that continuous fitness functions for seedling survival could be assembled. Fitness functions and their 95 per cent CI were evaluated using LOESS non-parametric smoothing and are based on instantaneous rates of seedling survival during the first few weeks of life (see §2). Note that because fitness is expressed as rate of seedling survival (per day), the y-axis corresponds to a wide range in survival over the season.