To Kill A Mockingbird Research Paper

List and describe three factors that could affect the fecundity of your population. What is the population growth rate for your organism? Provide an explanation for this number. [ /8 marks]
Fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity for a species to produce offspring in a lifetime. The growth rate of a species depends on several factors such as, how often each individual reproduces, at what age individuals start to reproduce and the number of offspring usually produced at each reproductive event.
Factors that could affect the fecundity of the Galapagos Mockingbird population:
Factor #1: Lack of breeding (how often each individual reproduces)
When breeding, the Galapagos Mockingbird females typically fly away from their nests in order

to breed with other mockingbirds to potentially avoid inbreeding (a breed from very closely related animals over numerous generations), rarely ever coming back to their families. When these events take place the females are at higher risks, sometimes accounting for the unequal balance between males and females (Grant, 1983).
Not having enough mates to breed with could result in the allee effect.

The allee effect is a density-dependent factor in which a population cannot survive or deteriorates to reproduce enough to offset mortality once the population density attains a certain level. This effect produces an increased extinction risk for extremely small populations through reduced individual fitness.
Although, within the Galapagos Mockingbird population the allee effect is not a concern. The mating structure changes frequently depending on which gender surpasses the other. When there are more males in the population than females, breeding becomes monogamous; one partner at a time (Blumin, 2011). When there are more females in the population than males, breeding becomes polygynous; where one male lives and mates with numerous females (Blumin, 2011).
With this being said, their breeding seasons depend on the time of the year. During El Niño the Galapagos Mockingbirds breed the most, although, because of all of the water there are many deaths within the population where they are desperately trying to outnumber births over deaths (Blumin, 2011). On the other hand, during times of drought they do not breed at all (Blumin, 2011). This affects the fecundity of the population because all of the offspring that the Galapagos Mockingbirds manage to reproduce will eventually die off with no offspring to replace them as this species does not constantly breed. With this, the population results in a stable growth

rate.
Factor #2: The age that individuals start to reproduce / introduction of larvae to the islands