Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. XIV. The Comparative Mortality of Certain Lower Organisms

T HE first complete life tables based upon comprehensive and accurate observations for any other organism than man, were, so far as we know, those published in the first of this series of Studies by Pearl and Parker (30) in i91i for normal wild-type Drosophila melanogaster, and for its mutant vestigial. Since that time partial or complete life tables for Drosophila have been published by Pearl and Parker (3i) for line-bred strains; (32.) showing effect of successive etherizations; (33) demonstrating influence of density of population on duration of life; (34) influence of ventilation and of feeding embryonic juice; (35) re-computed life tables; (36) for duration of life in the complete absence of food. Pearl, Parker and Gonzalez (37) have published life tables on the Mendelian inheritance of duration of life in Drosophila, and on the effect of surgically removing the wings upon duration of life. Gonzalez (iL) computed Drosophila life tables showing the relation of certain mutant genes to duration of life; Pearl, Miner and Parker (29) on the effect of density of population; Alpatov and Pearl (X) on the effect of temperature; Alpatov (i) on the effects of feeding; and Steinfeld (43) on the effects of a sterile environment. For other non-human forms the following life tables have been published: for the saturniid moth Telea polyphemus a graph of the ungraduated survivorship line by Pearl and Parker (35) based on data published by Philip and N. Rau (40); for the rotifer Proales decipiens by Pearl and Doering (26) based on data published by Noyes (i9); and for mice by Greenwood (I4) based on data from Leonard Hill and J. A. Murray. Data on life duration without the computation of life tables have also been given by Hase (i6) for the common Hydra fusca; by Rau (39) for the roach Blatta orientalis; and by the Szabos (45) for the slug Agriolimax agrestis. Recently Gardner and Hurst have published life tables for the domestic fowl (io). Certain of these data, not previously graduated, have been fitted with the following equations:

[1]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. XII. Influence of Temperature during the Larval Period and Adult Life on the Duration of the Life of the Imago of Drosophila melanogaster , 1929, The American Naturalist.

[2]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. I. Introductory Discussion of the Duration of Life in Drosophila , 1921, The American Naturalist.

[3]  Greenwood.  “Laws” of Mortality from the Biological point of view , 1928, Journal of Hygiene.

[4]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. X. The Duration of Life of Drosophila melanogaster in the Complete Absence of Food , 1924, The American Naturalist.

[5]  R. Pearl.  THE GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF RELATIVE VARIABILITY. , 1927, Science.

[6]  Raymond Pearl,et al.  Introduction to medical biometry and statistics , 2012 .

[7]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. III. The Effect of Successive Etherizations on the Duration of Life of Drosophila , 1922, The American Naturalist.

[8]  W. W. Alpatov,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. XIII. The Influence of Different Feeding during the Larval and Imaginal Stages on the Duration of Life of the Imago of Drosophila melanogaster , 1930, The American Naturalist.

[9]  I. Szabó.  The Three Types of Mortality Curve , 1931, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[10]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. V. On the Influence of Certain Environmental Factors on Duration of Life in Drosophila , 1922, The American Naturalist.

[11]  P. Rau.  The Biology of the Roach, Blatta orientalis Linn. , 1924 .

[12]  B. Noyes.  Experimental studies on the life‐history of a rotifer reproducing partheno‐genetically (Proales decipiens) , 1922 .

[13]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. IV. Data on the Influence of Density of Population on Duration of Life in Drosophila , 1922, The American Naturalist.

[14]  Helen McDonald Steinfeld.  Length of life of Drosophila melanogaster under aseptic conditions , 1928 .

[15]  R. Pearl,et al.  THE GROWTH OF CUCUMIS MELO SEEDLINGS AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES , 1934, The Journal of general physiology.

[16]  R. Pearl.  Experiments on Longevity , 1928, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[17]  Introduction to Medical Biometry and Statistics. , 1924 .

[18]  J. W. Macarthur,et al.  SEX DIFFERENCES IN MORTALITY AND METABOLIC ACTIVITY IN DAPHNIA MAGNA. , 1926, Science.

[19]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. IX. New Life Tables for Drosophila , 1924, The American Naturalist.

[20]  B. M. Gonzalez,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. VIII. The Influence Upon Duration of Life of Certain Mutant Genes of Drosophila melanogaster , 1923, The American Naturalist.

[21]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. XI. Density of Population and Life Duration in Drosophila , 1927, The American Naturalist.

[22]  Raymond Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. VII. The Mendelian Inheritance of Duration of Life in Crosses of Wild Type and Quintuple Stocks of Drosophila melanogaster , 1923, The American Naturalist.

[23]  R. Pearl,et al.  Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. II. Hereditary Differences in Duration of Life in Line-Bred Strains of Drosophila , 1922, The American Naturalist.