Fish Life Table

In order to generate a life history table, it was necessary to collect data. The class was divided into four groups. Each group was to collect 10 specimens of G. holbrooki from a pond found on the FIU campus, to total 40 collected specimens. Each group was handed a ruler and a fishing net. All members of the group were to accomplish a task. While one member fished the mosquitofish, another would measure the female mosquitofish in millimeters, another would collect the data, and all would serve as spotters, helping identify the correct fish. After collecting the data, the class went back to the room to generate a dataset. We decided to generate a vertical life table because it suited the conditions of the research since we were dealing with non-sessile individuals, that are long lived, and the …show more content…
Afterwards, we determined how many mosquitofish were alive in each age class n(x). The first number of individuals alive per age class was the total number of individuals collected because it is implied that they were all alive. From there we begin subtracting n(0)-s(0), n(30)-s(30), and so on. Once we have the number of individuals alive at each age class we can calculate the survival rate l(x). The survival rate is calculated by dividing n(x)/n(0). For example, 40/40=1, 39/40= 0.975, and so on. Next, to calculate the offspring produced by each individual, you need to multiply the fecundity value provided with the survival rate, in each age class (l(x)*b(x)). Afterwards, the age-weighted number of offspring was calculated by multiplying the age class with the survival and fecundity rate (l(x)*b(x)*(x)). Finally, the net reproductive rate (R0) is calculated by adding the l(x)* b(x) column, the mean generation (G) is calculated by dividing the total age weighed fecundity column by net reproductive rate (R0), and intrinsic growth rate is equal to the natural log of (R0) divided by