There are approximately 8.16 billion people living in the world today, a figure that shows a dramatic increase since the beginning of the Common Era. Since the 1970s, the global population has also more than doubled in size. It is estimated that the world's population will reach and surpass 10 billion people by 2060 and plateau at around 10.3 billion in the 2080s, before it then begins to fall. Asia When it comes to number of inhabitants per continent, Asia is the most populous continent in the world by a significant margin, with roughly 60 percent of the world's population living there. Similar to other global regions, a quarter of inhabitants in Asia are under 15 years of age. The most populous nations in the world are India and China respectively; each inhabit more than three times the amount of people than the third-ranked United States. 10 of the 20 most populous countries in the world are found in Asia. Africa Interestingly, the top 20 countries with highest population growth rate are mainly countries in Africa. This is due to the present stage of Sub-Saharan Africa's demographic transition, where mortality rates are falling significantly, although fertility rates are yet to drop and match this. As much of Asia is nearing the end of its demographic transition, population growth is predicted to be much slower in this century than in the previous; in contrast, Africa's population is expected to reach almost four billion by the year 2100. Unlike demographic transitions in other continents, Africa's population development is being influenced by climate change on a scale unseen by most other global regions. Rising temperatures are exacerbating challenges such as poor sanitation, lack of infrastructure, and political instability, which have historically hindered societal progress. It remains to be seen how Africa and the world at large adapts to this crisis as it continues to cause drought, desertification, natural disasters, and climate migration across the region.

File List Species_Information.txt – Species data for all studies, including study details, limited life history characteristics, and species descriptions. ASCII text, tab delimited, 20 lines (not including header row), 5 KB. (md5: 3aaff18b97d15ab45fe2bba8f721d20c) Population_data.txt – Details on population locations, habitats, and observed population status at study end and revisit. ASCII text, tab delimited, 82 lines (not including header row), 8 KB. (md5: 73d9b38e52661829d3aea635498922a3) Transition_Matrices.txt – Annual transition matrices and observed stage structures for each population and year of study. ASCII text, tab delimited, 461 lines (not including header row), 249 KB. (md5: f0a49ea65b58c92c5675f629f3589517)Description Demographic transition matrices are one of the most commonly applied population models for both basic and applied ecological research. The relatively simple framework of these models and simple, easily interpretable summary statistics they produce have prompted the wide use of these models across an exceptionally broad range of taxa. Here, we provide annual transition matrices and observed stage structures/population sizes for 20 perennial plant species which have been the focal species for long-term demographic monitoring. These data were assembled as part of the ‘Testing Matrix Models’ working group through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). In sum, these data represent 82 populations with > 460 total population-years of data. It is our hope that making these data available will help promote and improve our ability to monitor and understand plant population dynamics. Key words: conservation; Demographic matrix models; ecological forecasting; extinction risk; matrix population models; plant population dynamics; population growth rate.

Today, globally, women of childbearing age have an average of approximately 2.2 children over the course of their lifetime. In pre-industrial times, most women could expect to have somewhere between five and ten live births throughout their lifetime; however, the demographic transition then sees fertility rates fall significantly. Looking ahead, it is believed that the global fertility rate will fall below replacement level in the 2050s, which will eventually lead to population decline when life expectancy plateaus. Recent decades Between the 1950s and 1970s, the global fertility rate was roughly five children per woman - this was partly due to the post-WWII baby boom in many countries, on top of already-high rates in less-developed countries. The drop around 1960 can be attributed to China's "Great Leap Forward", where famine and disease in the world's most populous country saw the global fertility rate drop by roughly 0.5 children per woman. Between the 1970s and today, fertility rates fell consistently, although the rate of decline noticeably slowed as the baby boomer generation then began having their own children. Replacement level fertility Replacement level fertility, i.e. the number of children born per woman that a population needs for long-term stability, is approximately 2.1 children per woman. Populations may continue to grow naturally despite below-replacement level fertility, due to reduced mortality and increased life expectancy, however, these will plateau with time and then population decline will occur. It is believed that the global fertility rate will drop below replacement level in the mid-2050s, although improvements in healthcare and living standards will see population growth continue into the 2080s when the global population will then start falling.

Abstract This study aims to analyze how age structure affected the economic performance of Brazilian regions between the 1990s and 2010. For this research, information is mainly taken from that provided by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) through the 1991, 2000 and 2010 editions of the Demographic Census. The empirical strategy adopted consists of the estimation of a model of spatial autocorrelation by the two-stage least squares method. The results showed that both child and elderly dependency ratio have a negative impact on economic growth, with the effects being more pronounced in less developed regions. Still, it was found that, when significant, the effect of the elderly dependency ratio is more pronounced in relation to children.

Environmental change continually perturbs populations from a stable state, leading to transient dynamics that can last multiple generations. Several long-term studies have reported changes in trait distributions along with demographic response to environmental change. Here we conducted an experimental study on soil mites and investigated the interaction between demography and an individual trait over a period of nonstationary dynamics. By following individual fates and body sizes at each life-history stage, we investigated how body size and population density influenced demographic rates. By comparing the ability of two alternative approaches, a matrix projection model and an integral projection model, we investigated whether consideration of trait-based demography enhances our ability to predict transient dynamics. By utilizing a prospective perturbation analysis, we addressed which stage-specific demographic or trait-transition rate had the greatest influence on population dynamics. Both body size and population density had important effects on most rates; however, these effects differed substantially among life-history stages. Considering the observed trait-demography relationships resulted in better predictions of a population's response to perturbations, which highlights the role of phenotypic plasticity in transient dynamics. Although the perturbation analyses provided comparable predictions of stage-specific elasticities between the matrix and integral projection models, the order of importance of the life-history stages differed between the two analyses. In conclusion, we demonstrate how a trait-based demographic approach provides further insight into transient population dynamics.

Many of the processes that govern the viability of animal populations vary spatially, yet population viability analyses (PVAs) that account explicitly for spatial variation are rare. We develop a PVA model that incorporates autocorrelation into the analysis of local demographic information to produce spatially explicit estimates of demography and viability at relatively fine spatial scales across a large spatial extent. We use a hierarchical, spatial autoregressive model for capture-recapture data from multiple locations to obtain spatially explicit estimates of adult survival (Φad), juvenile survival (Φjuv), and juvenile-to-adult transition rates (ψ), and a spatial autoregressive model for recruitment data from multiple locations to obtain spatially explicit estimates of recruitment (R). We combine local estimates of demographic rates in stage-structured population models to estimate the rate of population change (λ), then use estimates of λ (and its uncertainty) to forecast changes in local abundance and produce spatially explicit estimates of viability (probability of extirpation, Pex). We apply the model to demographic data for the Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) collected across its geographic range in Arizona. There was modest spatial variation in λ (0.94–1.03), which reflected spatial variation in Φad (0.85–0.95), Φjuv (0.70–0.89), and ψ (0.07–0.13). Recruitment data were too sparse for spatially explicit estimates, therefore we used a range-wide estimate (R = 0.32 one-year old females per female per year). Spatial patterns in demographic rates were complex, but Φad, Φjuv, and λ tended to be lower and ψ higher in the northwestern portion of the range. Spatial patterns in Pex varied with local abundance. For local abundances > 500, Pex was near zero (Pex approached one in the northwestern portion of the range and remained low elsewhere. When local abundances were Pex > 0.25). This approach to PVA offers the potential to reveal spatial patterns in demography and viability that can inform conservation and management at multiple spatial scales, provide insight into scale-related investigations in population ecology, and improve basic ecological knowledge of landscape-level phenomena.

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to infer species-environment relationships, predict spatial distributions, and characterise species’ environmental niches. While the importance of space and spatial scales is widely acknowledged in SDM applications, temporal components of the niche are rarely addressed. We discuss how phenology and demographic stages affect model inference in plant SDMs. Ignoring conspicuousness and timing of phenological stages may bias niche estimates through increased observer bias, while ignoring stand age may bias niche estimates through temporal mismatches with environmental variables, especially during times of rapid global warming. We present different methods to consider phenology and demographic stages in plant SDMs, including the selection of causal, spatiotemporally explicit predictors, and the calibration of stage-specific SDMs. Based on a case study with citizen science data, we illustrate how spatiotemporal SDMs provide deeper insights on..., We conducted a keyword-based search in the Web of Science to quantify how often temporal components related to phenology and demographic stages are explicitly considered in plant SDMs. A full list of keywords is provided in the Supporting Information Table S1. We used a nested set of keywords to identify all studies that mentioned SDMs (or common synonyms), were focused on plants, and were listing relevant keywords related to phenology or to demographic stages, respectively. The search was carried out on 5-Oct-2023 and was restricted to English-language journal articles in the period 1945-2022 (no studies using SDMs were published before that start year). Overall, we found more than 40,000 articles mentioning SDM and over 10,000 articles in our refined search for plant SDMs, with a strong increase in the number of articles over time. Among these, phenology (or related search terms) was mentioned in 970 articles and demographic stages (or related terms) in 1188 articles, each averaging c..., , # The niche through time: considering phenology and demographic stages in plant distribution models

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sn02v6xct

Description of the data and file structure

Columns from WoS (Web of Science) search – these are identical in both excel sheets

These columns are the standard columns provided as WoS search output. If the entries contain "n/a", then no information was provided by WoS because those items are not applicable. For example, a journal article does not have any entries for book authors.

In a time of global change, having an understanding of the nature of biotic and abiotic factors that drive a species’ range may be the sharpest tool in the arsenal of conservation and management of threatened species. However, such information is lacking for most tropical and epiphytic species due to the complexity of life history, the roles of stochastic events, and the diversity of habitat across the span of a distribution. In this study, we conducted repeated censuses across the core and peripheral range of Trichocentrum undulatum, a threatened orchid that is found throughout the island of Cuba (species core range) and southern Florida (the northern peripheral range). We used demographic matrix modeling as well as stochastic simulations to investigate the impacts of herbivory, hurricanes, and logging (in Cuba) on projected population growth rates (? and ?s) among sites. Methods Field methods Censuses took place between 2013 and 2021. The longest census period was that of the Peripheral population with a total of nine years (2013–2021). All four populations in Cuba used in demographic modeling that were censused more than once: Core 1 site (2016–2019, four years), Core 2 site (2018–2019, two years), Core 3 (2016 and 2018 two years), and Core 4 (2018–2019, two years) (Appendix S1: Table S1). In November 2017, Hurricane Irma hit parts of Cuba and southern Florida, impacting the Peripheral population. The Core 5 population (censused on 2016 and 2018) was small (N=17) with low survival on the second census due to logging. Three additional populations in Cuba were visited only once, Core 6, Core 7, and Core 8 (Table 1). Sites with one census or with a small sample size (Core 5) were not included in the life history and matrix model analyses of this paper due to the lack of population transition information, but they were included in the analysis on the correlation between herbivory and fruit rate, as well as the use of mortality observations from logging for modeling. All Cuban sites were located between Western and Central Cuba, spanning four provinces: Mayabeque (Core 1), Pinar del Rio (Core 2 and Core 6), Matanzas (Core 3 and Core 5), and Sancti Spiritus (Core 4, Core 7, Core 8). At each population of T. undulatum presented in this study, individuals were studied within ~1-km strips where T. undulatum occurrence was deemed representative of the site, mostly occurring along informal forest trails. Once an individual of T. undulatum was located, all trees within a 5-m radius were searched for additional individuals. Since tagging was not permitted, we used a combination of information to track individual plants for the repeated censuses. These include the host species, height of the orchid, DBH of the host tree, and hand-drawn maps. Individual plants were also marked by GPS at the Everglades Peripheral site. If a host tree was found bearing more than one T. undulatum, then we systematically recorded the orchids in order from the lowest to highest as well as used the previous years’ observations in future censuses for individualized notes and size records. We recorded plant size and reproductive variables during each census including: the number of leaves, length of the longest leaf (cm), number of inflorescence stalks, number of flowers, and the number of mature fruits. We also noted any presence of herbivory, such as signs of being bored by M. miamensis, and whether an inflorescence was partially or completely affected by the fly, and whether there was other herbivory, such as D. boisduvalii on leaves. We used logistic regression analysis to examine the effects of year (at the Peripheral site) and sites (all sites) on the presence or absence of inflorescence herbivory at all the sites. Cross tabulation and chi-square analysis were done to examine the associations between whether a plant was able to fruit and the presence of floral herbivory by M. miamensis. The herbivory was scored as either complete or partial. During the orchid population scouting expeditions, we came across a small population in the Matanzas province (Core 5, within 10 km of the Core 3 site) and recorded the demographic information. Although the sampled population was small (N = 17), we were able to observe logging impacts at the site and recorded logging-associated mortality on the subsequent return to the site. Matrix modeling Definition of size-stage classes To assess the life stage transitions and population structures for each plant for each population’s census period we first defined the stage classes for the species. The categorization for each plant’s stage class depended on both its size and reproductive capabilities, a method deemed appropriate for plants (Lefkovitch 1965, Cochran and Ellner 1992). A size index score was calculated for each plant by taking the total number of observed leaves and adding the length of the longest leaf, an indication of accumulated biomass (Borrero et al. 2016). The smallest plant size that attempted to produce an inflorescence is considered the minimum size for an adult plant. Plants were classified by stage based on their size index and flowering capacity as the following: (1) seedlings (or new recruits), i.e., new and small plants with a size index score of less than 6, (2) juveniles, i.e., plants with a size index score of less than 15 with no observed history of flowering, (3) adults, plants with size index scores of 15 or greater. Adult plants of this size or larger are capable of flowering but may not produce an inflorescence in a given year. The orchid’s population matrix models were constructed based on these stages. In general, orchid seedlings are notoriously difficult to observe and easily overlooked in the field due to the small size of protocorms. A newly found juvenile on a subsequent site visit (not the first year) may therefore be considered having previously been a seedling in the preceding year. In this study, we use the discovered “seedlings” as indicatory of recruitment for the populations. Adult plants are able to shrink or transition into the smaller juvenile stage class, but a juvenile cannot shrink to the seedling stage. Matrix elements and population vital rates calculations Annual transition probabilities for every stage class were calculated. A total of 16 site- and year-specific matrices were constructed. When seedling or juvenile sample sizes were < 9, the transitions were estimated using the nearest year or site matrix elements as a proxy. Due to the length of the study and variety of vegetation types with a generally large population size at each site, transition substitutions were made with the average stage transition from all years at the site as priors. If the sample size of the averaged stage was still too small, the averaged transition from a different population located at the same vegetation type was used. We avoided using transition values from populations found in different vegetation types to conserve potential environmental differences. A total of 20% (27/135) of the matrix elements were estimated in this fashion, the majority being seedling stage transitions (19/27) and noted in the Appendices alongside population size (Appendix S1: Table S1). The fertility element transitions from reproductive adults to seedlings were calculated as the number of seedlings produced (and that survived to the census) per adult plant. Deterministic modeling analysis We used integral projection models (IPM) to project the long-term population growth rates for each time period and population. The finite population growth rate (?), stochastic long-term growth rate (?s), and the elasticity were projected for each matrices using R Popbio Package 2.4.4 (Stubben and Milligan 2007, Caswell 2001). The elasticity matrices were summarized by placing each element into one of three categories: fecundity (transition from reproductive adults to seedling stage), growth (all transitions to new and more advanced stage, excluding the fecundity), and stasis (plants that transitioned into the same or a less advanced stage on subsequent census) (Liu et al. 2005). Life table response experiments (LTREs) were conducted to identify the stage transitions that had the greatest effects on observed differences in population growth between select sites and years (i.e., pre-post hurricane impact and site comparisons of same vegetation type). Due to the frequent disturbances that epiphytes in general experience as well as our species’ distribution in hurricane-prone areas, we ran transient dynamic models that assume that the populations censused were not at stable stage distributions (Stott et al. 2011). We calculated three indices for short-term transient dynamics to capture the variation during a 15-year transition period: reactivity, maximum amplification, and amplified inertia. Reactivity measures a population’s growth in a single measured timestep relative to the stable-stage growth, during the simulated transition period. Maximum amplification and amplified inertia are the maximum of future population density and the maximum long-term population density, respectively, relative to a stable-stage population that began at the same initial density (Stott et al. 2011). For these analyses, we used a mean matrix for Core 1, Core 2 Core 3, and Core 4 sites and the population structure of their last census. For the Peripheral site, we averaged the last three matrices post-hurricane disturbance and used the most-recent population structure. We standardized the indices across sites with the assumption of initial population density equal to 1 (Stott et al. 2011). Analysis was done using R Popdemo version 1.3-0 (Stott et al. 2012b). Stochastic simulation We created matrices to simulate the effects of episodic recruitment, hurricane impacts, herbivory, and logging (Appendix S1: Table S2). The Peripheral population is the longest-running site with nine years of censuses (eight

Correlation between the sensitivities (respectively elasticities) of spread rate and population growth rate λ to changes in the demographic transitions found in matrix B (Eq. 4).

Butterflies are important bioindicators that can be used to monitor the effects of climate change, particularly in montane environments. Changes in butterfly population size over time, reflective of indicator life stages, can signal changes that have occurred or are occurring in their environment indicating ecosystem health. From the perspective of understanding butterflies as bioindicators in these systems, it is essential to identify influential environmental variables at each life stage that have the greatest effect on population dynamics. Life stage hypothesis modeling was used to assess the effects of multiple temperature and precipitation metrics on the population growth rate of a Parnassius clodius butterfly population from 2009 to 2018. Extreme maximum temperatures during the larval-pupal life stages were identified to have a significant negative effect on population growth rate. We speculate that higher temperatures during the spring ephemeral host plant’s flowering, and P. clo..., Butterfly Mark-Recapture Mark-recapture methods were used to study a population of P. clodius at Pilgrim Creek in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA across annual flight seasons between 2009 and 2018 during June and July. Surveys were not carried out in 2012 and 2013. Six 50m x 50m plots a minimum of 100m apart, were located using GPS units, flagged prior to the flight season of P. clodius, and surveyed each year. Survey plots were initially established in 2000 in an effort to balance increasing the area sampled, decreasing the number of recaptures, and maintaining independent sampling within a single meadow (Auckland et al. 2004). Mark-recapture surveys began a few days after the beginning of the flight season and continued until only one or two butterflies per plot were caught during a survey period. Plots were monitored daily if weather permitted throughout each flight season. Surveys were conducted when temperatures were above 21°C, wind was <16kmh-1, and clouds were not obs..., , # Life stage hypothesis modeling determines insect vulnerability during developmental life stages to climate extremes

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b92t

Description of the data and file structure

Files and variables

File: p.clodius_environmental.variables.binned.by.lifestage_2009-2021_SR.BC_Jan2023_ALL_metric.csv

Description:Â Mark-Recapture-Release data for Parnassius clodius butterflies in Pilgrim Creek, Wyoming, U.S.A. from 2009-2011 and 2014-2018

Variables

• Year: calendar year
• effort.num.surveys: number of surveys conducted per year
• caught: total number of butterflies caught per year
• caught.effort: total number of butterflies caught per year divided by the total number of surveys conducted per year
• caught.recap: total number of butterflies caught, including recaptures, per year
• est.popsize: estimated population size using Rmark
• logNt.caught: log transformation of the total number of butter...

LifeTablesLife tables for 24 species of terrestrial vertebrates.

In 2022, India overtook China as the world's most populous country and now has almost 1.46 billion people. China now has the second-largest population in the world, still with just over 1.4 billion inhabitants, however, its population went into decline in 2023. Global population As of 2025, the world's population stands at almost 8.2 billion people and is expected to reach around 10.3 billion people in the 2080s, when it will then go into decline. Due to improved healthcare, sanitation, and general living conditions, the global population continues to increase; mortality rates (particularly among infants and children) are decreasing and the median age of the world population has steadily increased for decades. As for the average life expectancy in industrial and developing countries, the gap has narrowed significantly since the mid-20th century. Asia is the most populous continent on Earth; 11 of the 20 largest countries are located there. It leads the ranking of the global population by continent by far, reporting four times as many inhabitants as Africa. The Demographic Transition The population explosion over the past two centuries is part of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. Simply put, this transition results from a drastic reduction in mortality, which then leads to a reduction in fertility, and increase in life expectancy; this interim period where death rates are low and birth rates are high is where this population explosion occurs, and population growth can remain high as the population ages. In today's most-developed countries, the transition generally began with industrialization in the 1800s, and growth has now stabilized as birth and mortality rates have re-balanced. Across less-developed countries, the stage of this transition varies; for example, China is at a later stage than India, which accounts for the change in which country is more populous - understanding the demographic transition can help understand the reason why China's population is now going into decline. The least-developed region is Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates remain close to pre-industrial levels in some countries. As these countries transition, they will undergo significant rates of population growth

1.Natural and anthropogenic forest canopy disturbances significantly alter forest dynamics and lead to multi-dimensional shifts in the forest understorey. An understorey plant's ability to exploit alterations to the light environment caused by canopy disturbance leads to changes in population dynamics. The purpose of this work was to determine if population growth of a species adapted to low light increases in response to additional light inputs caused by canopy disturbance, or alternatively, declines due to long-term selection under low light conditions. 2.To address this question, we quantified the demographic response of an understorey herb to three contrasting forest canopy disturbances (ice storms, tent caterpillar defoliation and lightning strikes) that encompass a broad range of disturbance severity. We used a model shade-adapted understorey species, Panax quinquefolius, to parameterize stage-based matrix models. Asymptotic growth rates, stochastic growth rates and simulations of transient dynamics were used to quantify the population-level response to canopy disturbance. Life table response experiments were used to partition the underlying controls over differences in population growth rates. 3.Population growth rates at all three disturbed sites increased in the transition period immediately after the canopy disturbance relative to the transition period prior to disturbance. Stochastic population models revealed that growth rates increased significantly in simulations that included disturbance matrices relative to those simulations that excluded disturbance. Additionally, transient models indicated that population size (n) was larger for all three populations when the respective disturbance matrix was included in the model. 4.Synthesis Obligate shade species are most likely to be pre-adapted to take advantage of canopy gaps and light influx to a degree, and this pre-adaptation may be due to long-term selection under dynamic old growth forest canopies. We propose a model whereby population performance is represented by a parabolic curve where performance is maximized under intermediate levels of canopy disturbance. This study provides new evidence to aid our understanding of the population-level response of understorey herbs to disturbances whose frequency and intensity are predicted to increase as global climates continue to shift.

The demographic dataset of Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques was shared by the Caribbean Primate Research Center, University of Puerto Rico.

AbstractConserving species requires knowledge of demographic rates (survival, recruitment) that govern population dynamics to allow the allocation of limited resources to the most vulnerable stages of target species' life cycles. Additionally, quantifying drivers of demographic change facilitates the enactment of specific remediation strategies. However, knowledge gaps persist in how similar environmental changes lead to contrasting population dynamics through demographic rates. For sympatric hummingbird species, the population of urban-associated partial-migrant Anna's hummigbird (Calypte anna) has increased, yet the populations of Neotropical migrants including rufous, calliope, and black-chinned hummingbirds have decreased. Here, we developed an integrated population model to jointly analyze 25 years of mark-recapture data and population survey data for these four species. We examined the contributions of demographic rates on population growth and evaluated the effects of anthropogenic stressors including human population density and crop cover on demographic change in relation to species' life histories. While recruitment appeared to drive the population increase of urban-associated Anna's hummingbirds, decreases in juvenile survival contributed most strongly to population declines of Neotropical migrants and highlight a potentially vulnerable phase in their life-history. Moreover, rufous hummingbird adult and juvenile survival rates were negatively impacted by human population density. Mitigating threats associated with intensively modified anthropogenic environments is a promising avenue for slowing further hummingbird population loss. Overall, our model grants critical insight into how anthropogenic modification of habitat affects the population dynamics of species of conservation concern. MethodsThis R data file contains a named list for each species in our study. It has been processed to remove covariates and data that are not public domain but are available for download at the links provided (indicated with * in the readme file). Each species list contains mark-recapture records (y), the known-state records (z), number of years spanned by the analysis (n.years), numbers banded individuals (n.ind), banding station membership (sta), number of banding stations (n.sta), year of first encounter for each individual (first), year of last possible encounter of each individual if it were to be alive (last), first and last years of mark recapture data (first_yr / last_yr), sex (1 = male, 2 = female) and age (1 = juvenile, 2 = adult) membership for each individual, the observed residency information for each individual in each year (r), the partially observed residency state information for each individual (u), the standardized human population density and crop data in the 3 kilometers around each banding station (HPD / crop), the unstandardized HPD and crop data (HPD_raw / crop_raw), the number of days of operational banding activity at each station each year (effort), and indicator for each station and year signifying whether banding occurred on at least two occasions separated by more than 5 days that year (kappa_shrink), the BBS survey year (year), an indicator of whether the BBS surveyor was suveying on their first year or not (firstyr), the number of BBS surveys (ncounts), the species tally on a given survey (count), the number of individual transects surveyed over the study period (nrte), the BBS transect membership for each count (rte), the number of observers contributing data over the study period (nobserver), the anonymized observer ID on a given transect for each count (rte.obser), and the initial abundance estimate given as the mean count across all transects and years, inflated by 100 for precise estimation of demographic rates (lam0). Usage notesData can be opened in R and analyzed using Nimble.

Estimation of responses of organisms to their environment using experimental manipulations, and comparison of such responses across sets of species, is one of the primary tools in ecology research. The most common approach is to compare response of a single life stage of species to an environmental factor and use this information to draw conclusions about population dynamics of these species. Such approach ignores the fact that interspecific fitness differences measured at a single life stage are not directly comparable and cannot be extrapolated to lifetime fitness of individuals and thus species' population dynamics. Comparison of one life stage only while omitting demographic information can strongly bias conclusions, both in experimental studies with a few species, and in large comparative studies.

We illustrate the effect of this omission using both an exaggerated fictitious example, and biological data on congeneric species differing in their demography. We are showing, taking simple assumptions, that different demography can completely revert conclusions reached by a comparison based on an experiment focusing on a single life stage.

We show that a "demographic correction", namely translating observed effects into differences in outcomes of demographic models, is a solution to this problem. It requires turning the detected effects from the experiment into changes of transition probabilities of projection matrix models. Although such solution is limited by the low number of species with demographic data available, we believe that existing data (and data likely to be collected in the near future) permit at least approximate handling of this problem.

In outbred sexually reproducing populations, age-specific mortality rates reach a plateau in late life following the exponential increase in mortality rates that marks aging. Little is known about what happens to physiology when cohorts transition from aging to late life. We measured age-specific values for starvation resistance, desiccation resistance, time-in-motion and geotaxis in ten Drosophila melanogaster populations: five populations selected for rapid development and five control populations. Adulthood was divided into two stages, the aging phase and the late-life phase according to demographic data. Consistent with previous studies, we found that populations selected for rapid development entered the late-life phase at an earlier age than the controls. Age-specific rates of change for all physiological phenotypes showed differences between the aging phase and the late-life phase. This result suggests that late life is physiologically distinct from aging. The ages of transitions in physiological characteristics from aging to late life statistically match the age at which the demographic transition from aging to late life occurs, in all cases but one. These experimental results support evolutionary theories of late life that depend on patterns of decline and stabilization in the forces of natural selection.

In 2023, it is estimated that the BRICS countries have a combined population of 3.25 billion people, which is over 40 percent of the world population. The majority of these people live in either China or India, which have a population of more than 1.4 billion people each, while the other three countries have a combined population of just under 420 million. Comparisons Although the BRICS countries are considered the five foremost emerging economies, they are all at various stages of the demographic transition and have different levels of population development. For all of modern history, China has had the world's largest population, but rapidly dropping fertility and birth rates in recent decades mean that its population growth has slowed. In contrast, India's population growth remains much higher, and it is expected to overtake China in the next few years to become the world's most populous country. The fastest growing population in the BRICS bloc, however, is that of South Africa, which is at the earliest stage of demographic development. Russia, is the only BRICS country whose population is currently in decline, and it has been experiencing a consistent natural decline for most of the past three decades. Growing populations = growing opportunities Between 2000 and 2026, the populations of the BRICS countries is expected to grow by 625 million people, and the majority of this will be in India and China. As the economies of these two countries grow, so too do living standards and disposable income; this has resulted in the world's two most populous countries emerging as two of the most profitable markets in the world. China, sometimes called the "world's factory" has seen a rapid growth in its middle class, increased potential of its low-tier market, and its manufacturing sector is now transitioning to the production of more technologically advanced and high-end goods to meet its domestic demand.

This study presents a novel non-autonomous mathematical model to explore the intricate relationship between temperature and desert locust population dynamics, considering the influence of both solitarious and gregarious phases across all life stages. The model incorporates temperature-dependent parameters for key biological processes, including egg development, hopper growth, adult maturation, and reproduction. Theoretical analysis reveals the model’s capacity for complex dynamical behaviors, such as multiple stable states and backward bifurcations, suggesting the potential for sudden and unpredictable population shifts. Sensitivity analysis identifies temperature-related parameters as critical drivers of population fluctuations, highlighting the importance of accurate temperature predictions for effective management. Numerical simulations demonstrate the significant impact of temperature on population growth, with optimal conditions promoting rapid development and increased survival, while extreme temperatures can hinder population growth and trigger phase transitions. By providing a deeper understanding of temperature-driven population shifts, this model enhances the ability to predict locust outbreaks, optimize control strategies, and reduce the socio-economic and ecological impacts of locust invasions.

Conserving species requires knowledge of demographic rates (survival, recruitment) that govern population dynamics to allow the allocation of limited resources to the most vulnerable stages of target species' life cycles. Additionally, quantifying drivers of demographic change facilitates the enactment of specific remediation strategies. However, knowledge gaps persist in how similar environmental changes lead to contrasting population dynamics through demographic rates. For sympatric hummingbird species, the population of urban-associated partial-migrant Anna's hummigbird (Calypte anna) has increased, yet the populations of Neotropical migrants including rufous, calliope, and black-chinned hummingbirds have decreased. Here, we developed an integrated population model to jointly analyze 25 years of mark-recapture data and population survey data for these four species. We examined the contributions of demographic rates on population growth and evaluated the effects of anthropogenic stres..., This R data file contains a named list for each species in our study. It has been processed to remove covariates and data that are not public domain but are available for download at the links provided (indicated with * in the readme file). Each species list contains mark-recapture records (y), the known-state records (z), number of years spanned by the analysis (n.years), numbers banded individuals (n.ind), banding station membership (sta), number of banding stations (n.sta), year of first encounter for each individual (first), year of last possible encounter of each individual if it were to be alive (last), first and last years of mark recapture data (first_yr / last_yr), sex (1 = male, 2 = female) and age (1 = juvenile, 2 = adult) membership for each individual, the observed residency information for each individual in each year (r), the partially observed residency state information for each individual (u), the standardized human population density and crop data in the 3 kilometers ..., Data can be opened in R and analyzed using Nimble., ## Hummingbird IPM data file

This data file contains a list of lists named for each of the four species in our analysis: Anna's (ANHU; Calypte anna), black-chinned (BCHU; Archilochus alexandri), calliope (CAHU; Selasphorus calliope), and rufous hummingbirds (RUHU; Selasphorus rufus). Each of these lists contains the required mark-recapture inputs for integrated population modelling in R/Nimble. Raw covariates of human population density, land cover classification, as well as Breeding Bird Survey data can be accessed as described under Sharing/Access information. To load the file in R from the current working directory:

load("./IPM.shared.Rdata")

Description of the data and file structure

Within each named list, there are data for mark-recapture records (NA = station not active, 0 = not captured, 1 = captured; y), the known state, either alive (1) or unknown (NA) , of each individual in each year (z), number of years spanned by the analysis (n.years), nu...