Montero, Lina Riza N.

BS Bio IV

1. Natality - is the scientific term for birth rate. It is the ratio of total deaths to total
population in a specified community or area over a specified period of time. The death
rate is often expressed as the number of deaths per 1,000 of the population per year. Also
called fatality rate.
2. Mortality or Death rate - is the measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a
specific cause) in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.
Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus,
a mortality rate of 9.5 (out of 1000) in a population of 1,000 would mean 9.5 deaths per
year in that entire population, or 0.95% out of the total. It is distinct from morbidity rate,
which refers to the number of individuals in poor health during a given time period (the
prevalence rate) or the number of newly appearing cases of the disease per unit of time
(incidence rate). The term "mortality" is also sometimes inappropriately used to refer to
the number of deaths among a set of diagnosed hospital cases for a disease or injury,
rather than for the general population of a country or ethnic group. This disease mortality
statistic is more precisely referred to as "case fatality rate" (CFR).
3. Fecundity - is the physiological maximum potential reproductive output of an individual
(usually female) over its lifetime and represents one of the major cornerstones of
theoretical and applied population biology. Fecundity is an important component of both
sexual and asexual reproduction, and it can be viewed as a direct (production of
offspring) or an indirect (assisting in the reproduction of related individuals) process.
Temporal patterns in fecundity fall under two main categories: (1) semelparity the
production of offspring only once during an organisms lifetime and (2) iteroparity the
repeated production of offspring. Factors influencing temporal variation in fecundity and
fertility include age, body size (allometric) relationships, the effects of population
density, mate choice, and environmental variability.
4. Fertility - is defined as the current (actual) reproductive performance of an individual.
Many strategies have evolved to shape patterns in fecundity so that lifetime reproductive
success (the genetic contribution to the next generation) is maximized under the
evolutionary selective pressures experienced by an organism.

5. Migration - is the moving of individuals of a species from one place to another.

Emigration - is the migration seen as an exit of individuals from one region (to another
where they will settle permanently or temporarily). Immigration is the migration seen as

the settling in one region (permanently or temporarily) of individuals coming from

another region. Therefore individuals emigrate "from" and immigrate "to".

6. Survivorship - a graph showing the number or proportion of individuals surviving at

each age for a given species or group (e.g. males or females). Survivorship curves can be
constructed for a given cohort (a group of individuals of roughly the same age) based on
a life table.

There are three generalized types of survivorship curves:

Type I survivorship curves are characterized by high survival in early and middle life, followed
by a rapid decline in survivorship in later life. They are typical of species that produce few
offspring but care for them well, including humans and many other large mammals.
Type II curves are an intermediate between Types I and III, where roughly constant mortality
rate is experienced regardless of age. Some birds and some lizards follow this pattern.
In Type III curves, the greatest mortality is experienced early in life, with relatively low rates of
death for those surviving this bottleneck. This type of curve is characteristic of species that
produce a large number of offspring (see r/K selection theory). This includes most marine
invertebrates. For example, oysters produce millions of eggs, but most larvae die from predation
or other causes; those that survive long enough to produce a hard shell live relatively long

7. Life expectancy - is the expected (in the statistical sense) number of years of life
remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex,[a] which means the average number of
subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality
experience. Because life expectancy is an average, a particular person may well die many

years before or many years after their "expected" survival. The term "maximum life
span" has a quite different meaning. The "median life span" is also a different concept
although fairly similar to life expectancy numerically in most developed countries

8. Life span - is the amount of time between the birth and death of a person, creature or
animal. An example of life span is the 80 years that you may live between birth and
death.

9. Life Table - a more sophisticated method for examining population abundance is to

construct a life table. This table will have a schedule of all births and deaths in all, or
more likely some portion, of our population.

10. Demography - is the statistical study of the age structure of a population, and it can be
used in research to determine what is causing a decline or increase in population size over
time. It is worthwhile to understand species concept and population growth even though
they are such broad aspects, because they are fundamental to the science of ecology.