Dynamics of Population Growth

The objective of this project was to examine the dynamics of population size based on age-specific life history parameters, as well as on genetic information. Two basic models were developed and exercised based upon the Leslie Matrix. the first model examined different life history patterns and their impact on the resulting dynamics of population growth. The second model expanded the first to include different genotypes. The life history parameters, fecundity and survivorship, were the same for both models. Four fecundity patterns represented age-specific fecundity that is monotonically increasing, monotonically decreasing, constant, and peaking at an intermediate age; three survivorship patterns represented age-specific types (I, II, and III). From these age-specific life history characteristics, twelve fictitious data sets were created for each model. The genetic model was exercised to examine the genetic impact of immigrants on a population, which was otherwise genetically homogeneous. Impact was measured by the variation in allele frequency. These simulation results support the conjecture that some kinds of species, as defined by their life history characteristics, are especially susceptible to genetic perturbation