Human+Population+Studies

= = = Human Populations Studies =

PURPOSE and OBJECTIVES:
This activity is a study in population distribution and survivor-ship curves.
 * 1) To accurately collect data regarding age of death of humans from newspaper obituary listings.
 * 2) To analyze data by developing line graphs, bar graphs, and age population pyramids of collected data.
 * 3) To gain an understanding of age structure of a population and possible effect upon future population size.

BACKGROUND:
Population studies are an important aspect of the study of environmental science. It is important to remember that a population is a collection of individuals of the same species. Populations have their own distinct characteristics apart from any one individual of the population. One of these characteristics is size - how many individuals are in the population. The study of changes in population size involves two primary components: birth rate and death rate. If these two rates remain equal, the population size will generally remain the same. What other factors may affect population size? What will have to happen for a population to increase in age? Decrease? In this activity the age-related death rate of the human population will be studied. Information about the deaths of humans will be gathered and organized into a life table. An analysis of this information will enable us to understand ages at which the human population is most vulnerable to death. What age groups would you predict to be most vulnerable to death? What factors might contribute to the increased rate of death during those predicted age groups?

MATERIALS:

 * Age-of-Death Resources (obituraries)
 * graph paper or spreadsheet program
 * calculator (optional)

PROCEDURE:

 * 1) Working in pairs, collect data from **both** historical and current information sources. In order to minimize duplication, each team should choose to research deceased person using a different letter of their last name. (student pair 1: a-b, student pair 2: c-d, student pair 3: e-f, etc.)
 * Historical [|Data on people who died between 1850 and 1899 in theSan Francisco region]
 * Current[| Data from published sources in Delaware]
 * 1) Record your information for 15 males and 15 females for both historical and current sources on a separate sheet of pair. Recording may be done in either pen or pencil and needs to include (in some instances a complete record may not exist):
 * Gender
 * Deceased individual's name
 * Date of Birth (to the nearest year)
 * Date of Death (to the nearest year)
 * Age (in years).
 * 1) The data recorded by each pair will be combined to form a class database for both historical and current obituary data.
 * 2) ==Fill in the[| **"Class Data Historical Obituary Data and Class Data Current Obituary Data"**] spreadsheet. (These numbers will represent "D" in the Life Table.)==

ANALYSIS:

 * A- Complete the Life Tables (Survivorship Curves):**


 * 1) For both males and females, determine the number of individuals (D) for each age group from your data tables.
 * 2) Enter the total # of male and female individuals in the study at the bottom of each column
 * 3) Determine the number of males and females left in the study(I) for each age group
 * In a new column, for the 0-9 years of age, subtract the 0-9 deaths from the total to determine the number of individual left in the study (I) in the 0-9 age group
 * Subtract the 10-19 age group deaths from the number of individuals left in the study(I) from the 0-9 age group.
 * Repeat this for the rest of each column. (For example, if there was a total of 250 individuals in your study and 7 of them died between the ages of 0-9, 243 individuals would be left in the study for age 10-19.)
 * 1) Construct a line graph of age group (x) vs. # of individuals left in study (I). This represents your survivorship curve. Plot male and female survivorship curves on the same graph.
 * 2) Construct a histogram of # of Deaths (D) vs. age group (X). This will give you a rough idea about mortality in each age group.


 * B-Complete a Population Age Profile:**
 * 1) Determine the % alive in the population for each age group
 * 2) Plot a population age pyramid.


 * C - Determine Mortality Rates:**
 * 1) Determine mortality rate (M) by dividing # deaths by # individuals in each age group: M = D/I.
 * 2) Plot a histogram of mortality rate vs. age group.

QUESTIONS:

 * 1) What are the dominant age group in terms of numbers in your population study for historical San Francisco and current Delaware?
 * 2) What are the dominant age group in terms of mortality in your population study for historical San Francisco and current Delaware?
 * 3) In what ways does the distribution in Delaware affect your life?
 * 4) From your graphs can you tell if the population is stable, expanding, or declining? Explain why this may be so.
 * 5) What age periods have the highest death rate? Suggest factors that contribute to the higher death rate during those periods.
 * 6) Compare the survivorship curve of females and males. How do they differ?
 * 7) How do life insurance companies use such data as we have collected?