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Article: ELASTICITIES A REVIEW OF METHODS AND MODEL LIMITATIONS.
- Article from:
- Ecology
- Article date:
- March 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Ecological Society of America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HANS DE KROON [1,5]
JAN VAN GROENENDAEL [2]
JOHAN EHRLEN [3,4]
Abstract. Elasticity is a perturbation measure in matrix projection models that quantifies the proportional change in population growth rate as a function of a proportional change in a demographic transition (growth, survival, reproduction, etc.). Elasticities thus indicate the relative "importance" of life cycle transitions for population growth and maintenance. In this paper, we discuss the applications of elasticity analysis, and its extension, loop analysis, in life history studies and conservation. Elasticity can be interpreted as the relative contribution of a demographic ...