Two variants of colonies with limited activation of components are introduc
ed, namely colonies with bounded-life components and colonies with bounded-
frequency components. The generative power of these colonies is studied. So
me properties of a specific descriptional complexity measure, namely the nu
mber of immortal components of a colony with bounded-life components, are a
lso discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.