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9 - Demography, population growth and life tables

from Part IV - Population ecology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Peter W. Price
Affiliation:
Northern Arizona University
Robert F. Denno
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Micky D. Eubanks
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Deborah L. Finke
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
Ian Kaplan
Affiliation:
Purdue University, Indiana
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Summary

Demography has been defined as “The processes of birth, death, immigration and emigration that determine the size, fluctuations and age structure of populations. Also the study of these processes and their effects” (Calow 1998, p. 175). Thus, the science includes the study of the size and density of populations, their growth and decline, and their movements and distributions. The field emphasizes numbers of individuals and their ages, times of reproduction, fecundity and the time of death, concentrating on description rather than the whys and wherefores. Why populations fluctuate is addressed by the subject of population dynamics (Chapter 11).

In this chapter we will cover important ingredients of demography, which include how populations grow, how populations survive and how much they reproduce. Life tables are quantitative descriptions of population survival, which may also include the timing of births into the population, or fecundity schedules, and estimates of emigration and immigration. These kinds of information form the basis for the study of population dynamics, so that some of the elementary aspects of population dynamics are treated in this chapter.

Type
Chapter
Information
Insect Ecology
Behavior, Populations and Communities
, pp. 351 - 372
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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References

Berryman, A. A. 2003 On principles, laws and theory in population ecology Oikos 103 695 Google Scholar
Cornell, H. V. Hawkins, B. A. 1995 Survival patterns and mortality sources of herbivorous insects: some demographic trends Am. Nat 145 563 Google Scholar
Kramer, A. M. Dennis, B. Liebhold, A. M. Drake, J. M. 2009 The evidence for Allee effects Popul. Ecol 57 341 Google Scholar
Peterson, R. K. D. Davis, R. S. Higley, L. G. Fernandes, O. A. 2009 Mortality risk in insects Environ. Entomol 38 2 Google Scholar
Southwood, T. R. E. Henderson, P. A. 2000 Ecological Methods Oxford Blackwell

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