Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Fecundity Decreased (fecundity + decreased)
Selected AbstractsGeneral guidelines for invasive plant management based on comparative demography of invasive and native plant populationsJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Satu Ramula Summary 1General guidelines for invasive plant management are currently lacking. Population declines may be achieved by focusing control on demographic processes (survival, growth, fecundity) with the greatest impact on population growth rate. However, we often have little demographic information on populations in the early stages of an invasion when control can be most effective. Here we determine whether synthesis of existing demographic data on invasive and native plant populations can address this knowledge problem. 2We compared population dynamics between invasive and native species using published matrix population models for 21 invasive and 179 native plant species. We examined whether the population growth rate responsiveness to survival, growth and fecundity perturbations varied between invasive and native species, and determined which demographic processes of invaders to target for reductions in population growth rate. 3Invaders had higher population growth rates (,) than natives, resulting in differences in demographic processes. Perturbations of growth and fecundity transitions (elasticities) were more important for population growth of invaders, whereas perturbations of survival had greater importance for population growth of natives. 4For both invasive and native species, elasticities of , to survival increased with life span and decreased with ,; while elasticities to growth and fecundity decreased with life span and increased with ,. 5For long-lived invaders, simulated reductions in either survival, growth or fecundity transitions were generally insufficient to produce population declines, whereas multiple reductions in either survival + growth or survival + fecundity were more effective. For short-lived invaders, simulated reductions in growth or fecundity and all pairwise multiple reductions produced population declines. 6Synthesis and applications. Life history and population growth rate of invasive species are important in the selection of control targets. For rapidly growing populations of short-lived invaders, growth and fecundity transitions should be prioritized as control targets over survival transitions. For long-lived invaders, simultaneous reductions in more than one demographic process, preferably survival and growth, are usually required to ensure population decline. These general guidelines can be applied to rapidly growing new plant invasions and at the invasion front where detailed demographic data on invasive species are lacking. [source] Herbivory and Abiotic Factors Affect Population Dynamics of Arabidopsis thaliana in a Sand Dune AreaPLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2005A. Mosleh Arany Abstract: Population dynamics of the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. were studied in a natural habitat of this species on the coastal dunes of the Netherlands. The main objective was to elucidate factors controlling population dynamics and the relative importance of factors affecting final population density. Permanent plots were established and plants were mapped to obtain data on survival and reproductive performance of each individual, with special attention to herbivore damage. In experimental plots we studied how watering, addition of nutrients, artificial disturbance, and natural herbivores affected survival and growth. Mortality was low during autumn and early winter and high at the time of stem elongation, between February and April. A key factor analysis showed a high correlation between mortality from February to April and total mortality. The specialist weevils Ceutorhyncus atomus and C. contractus (Curculionidae) were identified as the major insect herbivores on A. thaliana, reducing seed production by more than 40 %. These herbivores acted in a plant size-dependent manner, attacking a greater fraction of the fruits on large plants. While mortality rates were not affected by density, fecundity decreased with density, although the effect was small. Adding water reduced mortality in rosette and flowering plant stages. Soil disturbance did not increase seed germination, but did have a significant positive effect on survival of rosette and flowering plants. Seed production of A. thaliana populations varied greatly between years, leading to population fluctuations, with a small role for density-dependent fecundity and plant size-dependent herbivory. [source] Dynamics of an age-structured population drawn from a random numbers tableAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Bertram G. Murray JR Abstract I constructed age-structured populations by drawing numbers from a random numbers table, the constraints being that within a cohort each number be smaller than the preceding number (indicating that some individuals died between one year and the next) and that the first two-digit number following 00 or 01 ending one cohort's life be the number born into the next cohort. Populations constructed in this way showed prolonged existence with total population numbers fluctuating about a mean size and with long-term growth rate (r) , 0. The populations' birth rates and growth rates and the females' per capita fecundity decreased significantly with population size, whereas the death rates showed no significant relationship to population size. These results indicate that age-structured populations can persist for long periods of time with long-term growth rates of zero in the absence of negative-feedback loops between a population's present or prior density and its birth rate, growth rate, and fecundity, contrary to the assumption of density-dependent regulation hypotheses. Thus, a long-term growth rate of zero found in natural populations need not indicate that a population's numbers are regulated by density-dependent factors. [source] Dynamics of an age-structured population drawn from a random numbers tableAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2000BERTRAM G. MURRAY JR Abstract I constructed age-structured populations by drawing numbers from a random numbers table, the constraints being that within a cohort each number be smaller than the preceding number (indicating that some individuals died between one year and the next) and that the first two-digit number following 00 or 01 ending one cohort's life be the number born into the next cohort. Populations constructed in this way showed prolonged existence with total population numbers fluctuating about a mean size and with long-term growth rate (r) , 0. The populations' birth rates and growth rates and the females' per capita fecundity decreased significantly with population size, whereas the death rates showed no significant relationship to population size. These results indicate that age-structured populations can persist for long periods of time with long-term growth rates of zero in the absence of negative-feedback loops between a population's present or prior density and its birth rate, growth rate, and fecundity, contrary to the assumption of density-dependent regulation hypotheses. Thus, a long-term growth rate of zero found in natural populations need not indicate that a population's numbers are regulated by density-dependent factors. [source] | ||||||||||