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#fecundity

2 public questions tagged with this topic.

Fecundity refers to:

Fecundity is an organism’s potential reproductive output under specified physiological and environmental conditions. It describes reproductive capacity, such as the possible number of eggs, seeds, or offspring that an individual can produce, rather than the number that is actually produced and survives. Fertility or realized reproductive performance is often used for the observed production of viable offspring, although terminology varies among disciplines. Ecologists distinguish potential from realized output because nutrition, mate availability, age, disease, social status, and environmental

Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 11

The trade-off between fecundity and survival suggests:

“High fecundity reduces lifespan” for the trade-off between fecundity and survival suggests. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Survivorship curves summarize age-specific mortality: Type I concentrates loss late in life, Type II approximates a constant hazard, and Type III concentrates loss early. They are empirical patterns, not rigid taxonomic rules. The remaining alternatives—“High reproduction = long life”, “More survival = less reproduction”, “Long life increases fecundity”—refer

Ref: Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes, Grime, 2nd Ed.