The conservation of the biomass density and the age structure of the populations

A study was made of populations in stationary equilibrium that satisfy the following conditions: (1) The birth rate is very large in relation to the capacity of the habitat. (2) The part of the mortality which is independent of age is easily measured and is found to be very high. For these populations the following conclusions were drawn from the experimental observations: (1) The populations in steady state show an inversely proportional relation between the maximum average age of its components and the mortality. (2) The biomass of a population in a steady state saturating a habitat remains constant in spite of changes in the mortality. (3) The population of organisms continually growing through life, whose steady-state equilibria are reached under conditions of high mortality are composed of great numbers of individuals with a small average size. The equilibria which are reached under conditions of low mortality are characterized by a small number of individuals with large average size.