FACTORS AFFECTING THEIR POPULATION

GROWTH CURVES

LIFE TABLE AGE SURVIVORSHIP GENERATION

STRUCTURE TIME
 LIFE TABLES
• A life table records matters of life and death for a population
• It summarizes the likelihood that organisms in a population will live, die, and/or
reproduce at different stages of their lives.
• Life tables are an analytical tool that population ecologists use to study age-
specific population characteristics such as survival, fecundity (fertility) and
mortality.
• Life tables determine the number of individuals that survive from one age group
to the next.
• Cohort of life tables is examined from birth to the death of all individuals.
• Only include female individuals because only females can reproduce!
• Key assumptions:
• The population sample of each age class is proportional to its numbers in the
population
• Age-specific mortality rates remain constant during the time period, meaning
that subsequent cohorts will exhibit similar pattern of birth and death.
 Ro = £Ixmx
Example of life table

• The first row represents the birth year of the cohort, and each subsequent row shows the same group of one year
older.
• The unit of age (x) is years, the number alive (nx) indicates that not all individuals survive yearly.
• Survivorship converts a proportion of alive to the original cohort (lx = nx/n0), x = 0,1,2,3….
• The average number of offspring born to individuals of each age is age-specific fecundity.
• If the key assumptions are met, then the sum of the product of survivorship and fecundity at each age gives a
population growth parameter called Ro (net reproductive rate)
• When Ro > 1, the population is producing more offspring than its losing from deaths meaning, the population is
growing….(vice versa!).
Is the population above growing, shrinking, or stable?
At what age is fecundity maximized? Survivorship?
Adapted from Dr Hasnun lecture notes
 Age (year), x Number alive at Survivorship at Age-specific Net reproductive
interval year, (nx) interval year, Ix fertility, mx rate, Ro (Ixmx)
0-1 3,695 1.000 0.000 0
1-2 1,700 0.460 0.315 0.145
2-3 1,016 0.275 0.400 0.110
3-4 657 0.178 0.895 0.159
4-5 371 0.100 1.244 0.124
Exercise

5-6 273 0.074 1.440 0.107

6-7 205 0.055 1.282 0.071
7-8 165 0.045 1.280 0.058
8-9 127 0.034 1.387 0.047
9-10 113 0.031 1.080 0.033

Survivorship (Ix) = nx/n0 , x = 1,2,3…

Plot a graph for survivorship (Ix) in log scale vs age (year), x.

Adapted from Dr Hasnun lecture notes

A comparison at fifth and tenth columns reveals that males have higher death rates than females
 Dall mountain sheep, a wild sheep of northwestern North America

From table, mortality rate high at 0.5 – 1 year

old. Why?
Prey – predator interaction
At 11-12 years, high because they died in the
older age
 AGE STRUCTURE
• Age structure not only predict
population’s growth trends, but
also illuminate the social
conditions.

• Represent the relative number of

individuals of each age.
Demographic variable: Age-structure
Trend in human population growth
Kenya – Rapid growth
• Bottom structure is wide – many babies
are borne and grow into reproductive
individuals (teenagers & adults).
• Birth rate > Death rate
• Population continues to explosive
growth with their own reproduction
United State – Slow growth
• Babies and reproductive individuals are
almost even.
• Birth rate ~ Death rate
• A bulge is correspond to ‘baby boomers’
after Second World War
Italy – Decrease/Zero/Negative
growth
• Bottom structure is shrinking – not
many babies are borne
• Few babies grow into reproductive
individuals
• Birth rate < Death rate
• Population continues to decrease
 SURVIVORSHIP
• A survivorship curve shows what fraction of a starting group is
still alive at each successive age.
 Characteristics Type I
Characteristics Type II
• Small number of
• Die equally at any
offspring
age
• Parental care of their
• Significant parental
offspring
care
• Die at older age
• Relatively few
• Humans and
offspring
primates
• Birds

Characteristics Type III

• Few survive at
young age
• Lack with parental
care
• Lots of offspring
• Trees, insects,
marine
invertebrates