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Iteroparous species may reproduce at many different ages, resulting in a reproductive dispersion that affects the damping of population perturbations, and varies among life histories. Since generation time ( T c $${T}_c$$ ) is known to capture aspects of life-history variation, such as life-history speed, does T c $${T}_c$$ also determine reproductive dispersion ( S $$S$$ ) or damping time ( τ $$\tau$$ )? Using phylogenetically corrected analyses on 633 species of animals and plants, we find, firstly, that reproductive dispersion S $$S$$ scales isometrically with T c $${T}_c$$ . Secondly, and unexpectedly, we find that the damping time ( τ $$\tau$$ ) does not scale isometrically with generation time, but instead changes only as T c b $${T}_c^b$$ with b < 1 $$b<1$$ (also, there is a similar scaling with S $$S$$ ). This non-isometric scaling implies a novel demographic contrast: increasing generation times correspond to a proportional increase in reproductive dispersion, but only to a slower increase in the damping time. Thus, damping times are partly decoupled from the slow-fast continuum, and are determined by factors other than allometric constraints.

Journal article

Ecol Lett

04/08/2022

##### Keywords

biological time, damping time, generation time, life history, reproductive dispersion