These results indicate a stable population as the λ value was very close to 1 (median and 95% confidence interval: 0.95, 0.91, 0.99).
To estimate the reliability of the QOL measure in a stable population, we compared QOL values made one week apart for persons whose pain rating did not change in that week.
The observed mismatch distribution was tested against expected values in a stable population (i.e. population with constant population size; following [58]), and in a growing or declining population (following [59], equation 4), with χ2-tests (pooling classes to achieve a minimum of 5 expected counts in each class).
Because survival and reproduction were random and independent, total population size, and the number of each sex in each age class, varied randomly around the mean values expected in a stable population.
The transition matrix was multiplied with the population vector and after 21 iterations a stable population distribution was reached (right eigenvector of the matrix) and the reproductive value of each age-class estimated (left eigenvector of the matrix) [ 44].
The asymptotic population growth, λ, is calculated as the dominant eigenvalue of M. In a stable population the population growth rate is equal to 1 while lower values indicate a decreasing trend.
The baseline population is a stable population generated to fit the Zambian population in 1980, with baseline values of age-specific fertility and mortality rates derived from empirical data (DHS surveys).
The model was run with different values for tick density-dependent regulation to obtain a stable population of ticks after 50 generations.
The North-central COII clade, which had high values for h (0.996) and π (0.021), indicated a stable population with a long-term, large population size or admixed populations from separated ancestral lineages.
The expected value for Slater's Index for samples randomly drawn from a stable population is 0.50 (Blanchard & Sheridan, 1992).
None of the combinations of rat abundance and habitat characteristics predicted an increasing or a stable population (i.e. growth rate ≥1) under the current estimate of adult survival (max value of λ: 0.941, Fig. 1a).
