https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...20ab/1573778190228/Van+Dyke+2014+RBP+Ch+5.pdf
"As noted in the prior section, even when reproduction is initiated, female squamates appear to adjust clutch and litter sizes depending on resource availability. Clutch/litter size may be determined at two points during the reproductive cycle: first, females recruit a given number of ovarian follicles for primary vitellogenesis at the start of a reproductive cycle; secondly, females selectively allocate yolk to, and ovulate, a fraction of the “committed” follicles, while the rest undergo atresia (Aldridge 1982; Aldridge and Semlitsch 1992). Selective atresia of follicles, in particular, appears to be widespread in squamate reptiles (Shine 1977; Jones et al. 1978; Trauth 1978; Etches and Petitte 1990; Mendez-De La Cruz et al. 1993).
Whether clutch/litter size is ultimately determined at the initiation of vitellogenesis or by selective ovulation/atresia remains unknown, but exogenous FSH has been shown to increase clutch size in several species (Sinervo and Licht 1991; Jones and Swain 2000). The correlations between body condition (or fat body mass) and clutch/size, along with the observation that artificial increases in FSH stimulate increases in clutch size, suggest that hormones that signal resource abundance to the brain, if they exist, act in a dose-dependent manner. This could provide a mechanism for females to adjust clutch/litter size to abundance based on resource availability."
"As noted in the prior section, even when reproduction is initiated, female squamates appear to adjust clutch and litter sizes depending on resource availability. Clutch/litter size may be determined at two points during the reproductive cycle: first, females recruit a given number of ovarian follicles for primary vitellogenesis at the start of a reproductive cycle; secondly, females selectively allocate yolk to, and ovulate, a fraction of the “committed” follicles, while the rest undergo atresia (Aldridge 1982; Aldridge and Semlitsch 1992). Selective atresia of follicles, in particular, appears to be widespread in squamate reptiles (Shine 1977; Jones et al. 1978; Trauth 1978; Etches and Petitte 1990; Mendez-De La Cruz et al. 1993).
Whether clutch/litter size is ultimately determined at the initiation of vitellogenesis or by selective ovulation/atresia remains unknown, but exogenous FSH has been shown to increase clutch size in several species (Sinervo and Licht 1991; Jones and Swain 2000). The correlations between body condition (or fat body mass) and clutch/size, along with the observation that artificial increases in FSH stimulate increases in clutch size, suggest that hormones that signal resource abundance to the brain, if they exist, act in a dose-dependent manner. This could provide a mechanism for females to adjust clutch/litter size to abundance based on resource availability."