The vitality model: A way to understand population survival and demographic heterogeneity

Ting Li and James J. Anderson

Theoretical Population Biology, 2009, vol. 76, issue 2, 118-131

Abstract: A four-parameter model describing mortality as the first passage of an abstract measure of survival capacity, vitality, is developed and used to explore four classic problems in demography: (1) medfly demographic paradox, (2) effect of diet restriction on longevity, (3) cross-life stage effects on survival curves and (4) mortality plateaus. The model quantifies the sources of mortality in these classical problems into vitality-dependent and independent parts, and characterizes the vitality-dependent part in terms of initial and evolving heterogeneities. Three temporal scales express the balance of these factors: a time scale of death from senescence, a time scale of accidental mortality and a crossover time between evolving vs. initial heterogeneity. The examples demonstrate how the first-passage approach provides a unique and informative perspective into the processes that shape the survival curves of populations.

Keywords: Vitality; Survival curve; Killed Markov process; Mortality plateau; Diet restriction; Truncated survival; Hazard rate; Initial and evolving heterogeneity; Intrinsic and extrinsic mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:76:y:2009:i:2:p:118-131

DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2009.05.004

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