Simultaneous Determination Of Fluctuating Age Structure And Mortality From Field Data

The use of a Leslie matrix for analysis of a population normally implies that the age structure of the population is known. However, this restriction can be overcome if the population can be partitioned into recognisably different stages, and some information on stage duration and fecundity is available, in which case the age structure may be determined by the analysis itself. As an example of this approach we consider the estimation of the mortality rate applying to a population from a sequence of observed stage frequency vectors. The technique does not require that the population has attained a stable age structure nor that distinct cohorts can be recognised.