BIOL 1082 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Metapopulation, Semelparity And Iteroparity, Festuca
Document Summary
Population ecology ii (reading: concepts: 53. 4-53. 6 in textbook: describe reproductive trade-offs in an organism"s life history, comparing the costs and benefits of allocating resources to reproduction, and the life-history adaptations between k-selected and r- selected populations. There are trade-offs between survival and reproductive traits such as frequency of reproduction, number of offspring, and investment in parental care. Selective pressures influence the trade-off between the number and size of offspring. Plants and animals whose young are more likely to die often produce many small offspring. Small size may also increase the chance of a seedling establishment by enabling the seeds to be carried longer distances to a broader range of habitats. Animals that suffer high predation rates tend to produce many offspring. Extra investment on the part of the parent greatly increases the offspring"s chances of survival. Parental care and an extended period of learning in the first several years of life are very important to offspring fitness.
