Does size predict demographic fate? Modular demography and constraints on growth determine response to decreases in size

Abstract

The modular construction of many plants and animals defies conventional approaches to the study of life histories and population dynamics. An important complication of modular construction is that individuals can rapidly decrease in size when some modules are removed or die or when an individual fragments. Most attempts to describe life histories and population dynamics of modular organisms classify individuals according to their size. This approach relies on the fundamental assumption that fragmentation and module loss have no consequences for an individual apart from a simple decrease in size. Here we experimentally test this assumption. Using a modular marine invertebrate, the encrusting ..