SPLINE MODELS OF BIOLOGICAL POPULATION-DYNAMICS - HOW TO ESTIMATE MORTALITY-RATES FOR STAGE-STRUCTURED POPULATIONS WITH DIMORPHIC LIFE-HISTORIES

Nonparametric spline based models of stage structured population dynam ics provide an effective way of decomposing observed population dynami cs into birth and death rate processes. Currently available methodolog y only considers simple life histories in which all individuals pass t hrough the same sequence of stages in the same way. This paper present s techniques for obtaining birth and death rates from structured popul ation time series of organisms with complex life histories. For exampl e, in many species males and females develop at the same rate in early stages, but differently in late stages. The models are motivated by t he need to obtain birth and death rates for a pest subject to biocontr ol by a parasitoid.