A General Model of Comparative Fecundity for Semelparous and Iteroparous Life Histories

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Abstract
Previous models of semelparity and iteroparity are critically reviewed. A general model is produced which incorporates population growth rate, juvenile and adult survivorship, prereproductive development time (PDT), time between reprductive episodes (TBR) and senescence. Increasing values of population growth rate and juvenile survivorship favor semelparity. Increasing values of adult survivorship, age of senescence and the ratio of PDT to TBR favor iteroparity. Ambiguities arise when analyzing the effect of PDT or TBR depending of whether an absolute or a relative difference in fecundity is considered. The biological implications of this and other aspects of the model are discussed.