Parameter evolution in a laboratory insect population (Q1111489)

We analyse the measurements of population vital rates made by \textit{A. J. Nicholson} [Cold Spring Harbour Symp. Quant. Biol. 22, 153-173 (1957)] on laboratory cultures of the Australia sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) and show that these measurements imply a progressive change in the demographic characteristics of the population during the course of the experiment. These changes, which are shown to be consistent with the changes which Nicholson observed in the stability of the population as a whole, imply evolution from instability to stability.