Lasker Howard R
Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, 14260, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Oecologia. 1991 May;86(4):503-509. doi: 10.1007/BF00318316.
A size dependent model of population growth of the Caribbean gorgonian Plexaura A is developed based on observed rates of survival, growth and colony fragmentation at a site in the San Blas Islands, Panama. Sensitivity and elasticity analyses indicate that the fate of large colonies has the greatest effect on population growth. Variables which directly affect the generation of large colonies have the next greatest effect on population growth. These variables include the recruitment of large fragments, and the survivorship of colonies in the next smaller size class. Sexual reproduction has an extremely limited ability to affect population growth. Vegetative reproduction has a greater potential effect on growth rates. Environmental conditions regularly change the matrix of transition probabilities which predicts population growth. This keeps the population from approaching its stable size class distribution. Deviations from the stable size class distribution alter sensitivity and elasticity and in this case have the effect of increasing the importance of survivorship of the smallest colonies. Nonequilibrium conditions alter sensitivity analyses and it is important to assess whether populations are at equilibrium and to determine the effects of such deviations on the sensitivity analysis.
基于在巴拿马圣布拉斯群岛某一地点观察到的加勒比柳珊瑚Plexaura A的存活、生长和群体碎片化速率，建立了一个与群体大小相关的种群增长模型。敏感性和弹性分析表明，大型群体的命运对种群增长的影响最大。直接影响大型群体产生的变量对种群增长的影响次之。这些变量包括大型碎片的补充，以及次小尺寸等级群体的存活率。有性繁殖对种群增长的影响极为有限。无性繁殖对生长速率具有更大的潜在影响。环境条件会定期改变预测种群增长的转移概率矩阵。这使得种群无法接近其稳定的大小等级分布。与稳定大小等级分布的偏差会改变敏感性和弹性，在这种情况下，会增加最小群体存活率的重要性。非平衡条件会改变敏感性分析，评估种群是否处于平衡状态以及确定此类偏差对敏感性分析的影响非常重要。
