Lecture 6: Population ecology: age-structured populations and life histories Flashcards
life history
pattern of survival and reproduction events during an organisms life
age structured populations
variation of fecundity and survivorship are summarized by life tables at age specific rates
survivorship curves
Graph showings likelihood of surviving at a specific age
fecundity schedules
graph that shows number of births at different ages in a population
when does reproduction start
after the resource accumulation phase
net reproductive rate
average expected number of daughters a female has in her lifetime
generation time
the average interval between the birth of an individual and the birth of its offspring.
cost of reproduction? What is the benefits of allowing more time before birth?
hypothesis stating that giving birth is costly in terms of survival and reproduction
more time before giving birth allows more time to accumulate necesary resources
when does natural selection favour semelparity?
when the chance of producing more offspring is increase because the organism gave themselves more time to accumulate resources
semelparity vs. iteroparity
semelparity is a single reproduction cycle and then death. iteroparity are multiple reproduction cycles before death
masting
the production of many seeds by a plant every two to three years at the same time with other plants of the same species
What is the benefit of reproductive values?
ensures the continuity of the species and keeps it from becoming extinct
fecundity
ability to produce a lot of offspring
