Project

ComPADRe III and ComADRe demographic databases

Conducted by Roberto Salguero-Gomez; Owen R. Jones, James W. Vaupel, Annette Baudisch, Alexander Scheuerlein, Dalia Amor Conde Ovando, Fernando Colchero; in Collaboration with Judy Che-Castaldo (National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, USA), Hal Caswell (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution / MPIDR, USA)

Detailed description:

Discrete projection matrix models and integral projection models (IPMs) have become widely used techniques in the demographic toolbox of animal and plant ecologists and evolutionary biologists. As a consequence, projection matrices and IPMs have been published for over 850 plant and 1000 animal species. The number of publications containing this information continues to grow rapidly. These data allow for cross comparisons within and among species because of their similar format, powerful and tractable analyses, and ease of biological interpretation. In this project, we are collecting and digitalizing projection matrices and IPM kernels across the tree of life, as well as taxonomic, biogeographic and ecological data associated with each species. Our goals are to (i) explore how factors such as habitat, growth form and phylogenetic ancestry affect the evolution of senescence, (ii) study the role of variability in vital rates in demographic viability, and (iii) ultimately make these data freely available to the scientific community in order to encourage comparative demographic analyses.

Although most ecological and evolutionary questions are typically explored using a single/few study species, the exploration and validation of theories requires the use of comparative analyses. In plant and animal demography, projection matrix models and integral projection models have become some of the most popular approaches due to their relative simplicity and wealth of biologically meaningful output. The vast number of plant and animal species’ populations studied to date with matrix and IPM approaches, and the future projections, offer a unique opportunity to explore broad ecological and evolutionary questions.

Currently included in ComPADRe* and ComADRe** are:

- Projection matrices and IPM kernels for each studied species, manuscript, population, year and treatments. (*,**)

- Population vector/kernel. (*,**)

Covariates:

- Accepted species name (*,**)

- Common name (*,**)

- Source publication (Author, journal, publication year) (*,**)

- Growth form (*)

- Full taxonomic organization (Kingdom, phylum...) (*,**)

- Seedbank, dormancy/hibernation (*,**)

- Ecoregion, habitat (*,**)

- Natural/Managed population (*,**)

- Latitude, longitude, altitute, region/province/country of study site(s) (*,**)

- Natural and invasive range of species´ distribution (*,**)

- Social architecture (**)

- Male/Female weight/length (**)

- Semelparous/Iteroparous (*,**)

- Reproductive system (*,**)

- Reproductive mode (e.g. ovuliparity...) (*)

- Number/weight of propagule/year. (**)

- Lifespan (*,**)

- A/Sexual reproduction (*,**)

- IUCN and US Endangered list conservation status (*,**)

- Purpose of study (*,**)

- Treatment(s) (*,**)

- Spatial and temporal replication (*,**)

Research keywords: Ageing, Mortality and Longevity; Biodemography; Data and Surveys

This is a joint project with the Laboratory:

• Modeling the Evolution of Aging Description

Figures & Graphs

Figure 1: Number of plant (ComPADre III) and animal species (ComADRe) for which discrete projection matrices have been published as a function of heir year of publication. Integral projection models (blue) for over 50 species already exist.

 

Figure 2: Distribution of discrete projection matrices in the plant kingdom as a function of the country where the field site took place. There are obvious geographic gaps in our demographic knowledge of the tree of life around the planet.