Fecundity question

[ellalewi547]

Hello, I was wondering if someone could help me understand what fecundity would be the accurate fecundity represented in the model.
Based on the literature, my species fecundity is 4 offspring and I have used 4.0 in the transition matrix.

However when I calculate the average fecundity , my fecundity average is 1.1 (so the actual number of offspring produced by the females on average). I have density dependence influencing fecundity, so I think that's why its lower than the inputted fecundity value in the matrix.

My question is: should I try to achieve the actual fecundity from the literature of 4 offspring, which would mean increasing the fecundity value in the matrix until it achieves an average fecundity value of 4 from the calculation?

Here is the code I use to calculate the fecundity:

`population <- readPop(master_parameter, dirpath)
filtered_pop_1 <- population[population$Year>= 20, ] #only individuals after year 20 
pop2 <- population[population$Year != 100, ]  #removing individuals in year 100 as No. of offspring = 0
pop2$fecundity <- (pop2$NJuvFemales+pop2$NJuvMales) /
  pop2$Nfemales_stage3
valid_rows <- pop2$Nfemales_stage3 > 0 & !is.na(pop2$Nfemales_stage3) # Filter out rows with zero or missing females in stage 3
pop2_valid <- pop2[valid_rows, ]
pop2_valid$fecundity <- (pop2_valid$NJuvFemales + pop2_valid$NJuvMales) / pop2_valid$Nfemales_stage3 #Calculate fecundity only for valid rows
print(paste("Mean fecundity =", round(mean(pop2_valid$fecundity), 2)))
mean(pop2$fecundity, na.rm = TRUE)`