Presenter: James R. Carey, Distinguished Professor of Entomology, University of California.
Wednesday 25 January 2022 12h00 – In-person or virtual. Please register by 20 January for in-person attendance and lunch.
Demography (focusing on humans) emerged from, and has historically been grounded exclusively in, the formal (mathematics; statistics) and the social (sociology; geography) sciences. However, since the late 1980s a series research grants were funded in which theoretical and experimental biology concepts were brought to bear on questions concerning the (bio)demography of aging in non-human species. Key results from several studies in lifespan evolution (long lifespans in social species), mortality (implications of trajectories at older ages), thanatology (use of egg-laying patterns to distinguish terminal from non-terminal sequences), health (a certain behavior in fruit flies signals impending but delayed death), reproduction (visualization concepts for individual-level egg laying patterns), population studies (newly-discovered mathematical population identity—life lived equals life left) and field applications (mosquito captive cohorts connect field and lab) will be presented. I will demonstrate the generality of one of the theoretical findings based on the contents of a soon-to-be-published paper involving historical data on members of the U.S. Congress, a result that also applies to members of any parliamentary body including those in the Parliament of South Africa. I will end with a brief discussion of implications of our studies for both humans and for the future of biodemography.
*Please register in advance for this seminar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the seminar.
Please RSVP by no later than 20 January if you will be staying for lunch.