Predictions of seasonal natural mortality rates in a copepod population using life-history theory

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Abstract
Inverse optimization techniques and data from Landry (1978) were used to predict natural mortality rates in a population of the marine, planktonic copepod Acartia clausii. Predicted mortality rates are those that make the observed seasonal pattern of life-history characteristics evolutionarily stable. The predictions closely approximate the rates observed by Landry. The inverse relationship between adult body size and temperature in A. clausii (also widely observed in other copepods and poikilotherms) is consistent with the hypothesis that it is an evolutionary adaptation to a seasonal environment, and demographic parameters, such as natural mortality rates, can be usefully estimated from life-history theory.