Body size is an important determinant of fitness in many organisms. While size will typically changeover the lifetime of an individual, heritable components of phenotypic variance may also showontogenetic variation... , "[James M. Cheverud] Body size is an archetypal quantitative trait with variation due to the segregation of many geneloci, each of relatively minor effect, and the environment... , "[CHRISTIAN P ETER K LINGENBERG] Body size is a central element in current theories of life-history evolution. Models for optimal age at maturity are based on the assumptions that there is a trade-off between development time and adult size and that larger size provides a reproductive advantage. 2. The results of large, replicated experiments with the water strider Gerris buenoi (Heteroptera: Gerridae) contradict both these assumptions...