BIO104 General Ecology (Laboratory)

EXERCISE 4. LIFE TABLE OF FRESHWATER CLAM

Life tables provide us useful information in studying life cycles of organisms. These
specifically give us information on mortality or fecundity with age or stage. There are two
ways to construct life tables. If follow a group of similar age-d individuals (cohort) from birth
to death, you construct a dynamic life table. If you follow the number of individuals of
different ages at a single point in time, you construct a static life table.

Data from life tables allow us to construct survivorship curves and fecundity schedules.
Survivorship curves show how death rates vary with age. There are three types of survivorship
curves (Fig. 4a). A Type I survivorship curve is when mortality is high in older ages or stages.
Humans, many other large vertebrates and some plants and invertebrates have a Type I
survivorship curve. A Type II survivorship curve demonstrates relatively constant mortality
rates across all ages/stages. This is the survivorship curve most common in birds and turtles.
Finally, frogs, fishes and many plants have a Type III. This curve shows high mortality at the
young ages or early stages.

Fig. 4a. The three types of survivorship curves.

A fecundity schedule shows the lifetime pattern of birth among individuals of different age/stage.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the exercise, you will be able to:
1. Construct a dynamic life table and a survivorship curve for Musculium pertumeium;
2. Identify the life stage with the highest mortality.

MATERIALS:
Hornbach, D. J., and D. L. Childers. 1986. Life history variation in a stream population of
Musculium partumeium (Bivalvia: Pisidiidae). Journal of the North American Benthological
Society 5:263271.
(cbc_11-2020) 1
BIO104 General Ecology (Laboratory)

PROCEDURE:
We will use data from Hornback and Childers 1986. Musculium partumeium are freshwater clams. This
experiment involved four cohorts and was conducted in the early 1980s. Data was collected from a
stream near the University of Virginia campus.

1. Construct the life tables from the data using the following parameters:

x – life stage/age interval (days)

Nx – number of surviving individuals at the beginning of each life stage/per day

lx – proportion of survivors from initial N to next lie stage

Where = initial population size

= population size of the next stage

dx – number of individuals dying at a stage interval / between 2 observation dates

Where = population size of the next life stage or day

= population size of the previous life stage or day

qx – mortality rate per age interval/day

therefore

2. Collate the life table data for Fall of 1981. Construct a survivorship curve (Fig 4.1). Use the
logarithmic value of for the y-axis and age for x-axis.

3. Collate the life table data for Spring of 1981. Construct a survivorship curve (Fig 4.2). Use the
logarithmic value of for the y-axis and age for x-axis.

(cbc_11-2020) 2
 BIO104 General Ecology (Laboratory)

WORKSHEET
Table 4.1 Life table for Musculium partumeium for Fall 1981.

Age class (months) Nx lx dx px qx logNx

X
1 313 1 3 0.990415335 0.009584665 2.495544
2 310 0.990415335 17 0.94516129 0.05483871 2.491362
3 293 0.936102236 147 0.498293515 0.501706485 2.466868
4 146 0.466453674 35 0.760273973 0.239726027 2.164353
5 111 0.354632588 10 0.90990991 0.09009009 2.045323
6 101 0.322683706 74 0.267326733 0.732673267 2.004321
7 27 0.086261981 1 0.962962963 0.037037037 1.431364
8 26 0.083067093 1 0.961538462 0.038461538 1.414973
9 25 0.079872204 24 0.04 0.96 1.39794
10 1 0.003194888 0 1 0 0
11 1 0.003194888 1 0 1 0
12 0 - - - - -
TOTAL 1354 4.325878594 313 7.335882181 3.664117819 17.91205

months
 Table 4.2 Life table for Musculium partumeium for Spring 1981.
Age class (months) Nx lx dx px qx logNx
X
1 134 1 17 0.873134328 0.126865672 2.127105
2 117 0.873134328 35 0.700854701 0.299145299 2.068186
3 82 0.611940299 18 0.780487805 0.219512195 1.913814
4 64 0.47761194 12 0.8125 0.1875 1.80618
5 52 0.388059701 9 0.826923077 0.173076923 1.716003
6 43 0.320895522 20 0.534883721 0.465116279 1.633468
7 23 0.171641791 10 0.565217391 0.434782609 1.361728
8 13 0.097014925 10 0.230769231 0.769230769 1.113943
9 3 0.02238806 1 0.666666667 0.333333333 0.477121
10 2 0.014925373 1 0.5 0.5 0.30103
11 1 0.007462687 1 0 1 0
12 0 - - - - -
TOTAL 534 3.985074627 134 6.491436921 4.508563079 14.51858

months