Article (abstract only): http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1666/13028
Large dinosaurs such as sauropods had produced eggs that were smaller than might be expected for a large creature. Researchers have concluded that the incubation time is an important constraint as a longer incubation time increases the risk of predation. There may also have been a finite limit to the period over which environmental temperatures are high enough for egg development.
If total predation risk varies with length of incubation time, there may be egg sizes above which the advantages of larger initial hatchling size are outweighed by the increased risk of predation during the egg stage. Also, in seasonal environments there will often be a finite limit to the period over which environmental temperatures are high enough for egg development. Thus incubation time may have been an important constraint explaining the small individual size of sauropod eggs. We further suggest that for sauropods spatial dispersal of eggs in small clutches was an adaptive strategy to mitigate this high predation risk associated with long time of exposure in the egg stage. Such a dispersive strategy brings several benefits. Thus, incubation time may also be key to explaining the surprisingly small clutch sizes.
(Score: 1) by hellcat on Monday June 23 2014, @03:15AM
There's lots of evidence of large organisms resulting from really small 'eggs.' Acorns to oaks, for example. Fine, dinosaurs were the largest of their kind, but we don't even know their lifespan. And from the nests we've found, we can't be sure they didn't use other techniques to hide / incubate the eggs. Seems like a bit of a stretch.
I'd rather they'd try to tackle more fundamental questions like egg size variability, fossilized evidence of predation, or growth rates once they'd hatched.