Life-History Analysis of Asterinid Starfishes.

AbstractThe starfish family Asterinidae shows a diversity of reproductive modes, and a number of species have sufficient life-history data that can be used for analysis, using life-cycle graphs. These include four species that reproduce by fission (, , , and ), a viviparous species (), two species with benthic egg masses ( and ), one with planktonic larvae that do not feed (), and one with larvae that feed in the plankton (). Species are compared using adult and first-year survival and, for some species, the age at first reproduction, number of offspring (eggs or newly released juveniles), and individual growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy model. The sensitivity of population growth, fitness, to changes in these traits is shown by elasticity analysis, which aids in understanding possible consequences of environmental forces as well as possible directions of selection.