Population viability analysis

Population viability analysis uses models to estimate the probability that a population will persist or become extinct over a specified period under stated assumptions.

Demographic stochasticity: Random variation in individual births and deaths that affects population size and composition. Small populations are especially vulnerable to chance fluctuations in births and deaths.
Population ecology: The study of how populations change in abundance, structure, and distribution over time. It supplies the demographic concepts that viability models represent.
Conservation biology: The scientific study of protecting biological diversity and maintaining ecological systems. Population viability analysis is a widely used tool within conservation biology.
Model uncertainty: Uncertainty about which model structure or assumptions best represent a system. Different plausible model structures can produce different persistence estimates.
Environmental stochasticity: Random variation in environmental conditions that changes survival or reproduction across a population. Year-to-year environmental variation can drive modeled extinction risk.
Population dynamics: The patterns and processes governing changes in population size and structure over time. Population trajectories are the central quantities projected in viability analyses.
Conservation translocation: The deliberate movement and release of organisms for conservation purposes. Viability models can compare whether releases improve a threatened population's prospects.
Parameter uncertainty: Uncertainty in the numerical values assigned to a model's parameters. Sparse demographic data make survival and reproduction estimates imprecise.
Population projection matrix: A matrix that projects population structure and abundance from one time step to the next. Stage-structured analyses use projection matrices to model changing population sizes.
Life table: A tabulation of age- or stage-specific survival and reproduction rates. Life tables provide demographic inputs for many population models.

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