page_title: Semelparity and iteroparity
section_title: Iteroparity
hierarchical_section_title: Semelparity and iteroparity / Overview / Iteroparity
caption_attribution_description: English: Pig: sow with piglet Deutsch: Hausschwein: Sau mit Ferkel Español: Una es:Sus scrofa domestica/diva de la banda.
context_page_description: Semelparity and iteroparity are two classes of possible reproductive strategies available to living organisms. A species is considered semelparous if it is characterized by a single reproductive episode before death, and iteroparous if it is characterized by multiple reproductive cycles over the course of its lifetime. Some botanists use the parallel terms monocarpy and polycarpy.
  In truly semelparous species, death after reproduction is part of an overall strategy that includes putting all available resources into maximizing reproduction, at the expense of future life. In any iteroparous population there will be some individuals who die between their first and second reproductive episodes, but unless this is part of a syndrome of programmed death after reproduction, this would not be called semelparity.
  This distinction is also related to the difference between annual and perennial plants. An annual is a plant that completes its life cycle in a single season, and is usually semelparous. Perennials live for more than one season and are usually iteroparous.
context_section_description: The term iteroparity comes from the Latin itero, to repeat, and pario, to beget.  An example of an iteroparous organism is a human—humans are biologically capable of having offspring many times over the course of their lives.
  Iteroparous vertebrates include all birds, most reptiles, virtually all mammals, and most fish. Among invertebrates, most mollusca and many insects (for example, mosquitoes and cockroaches) are iteroparous.  Most perennial plants are iteroparous.
caption: An iteroparous organism is one that can undergo many reproductive events throughout its lifetime. The pig is an example of an iteroparous organism
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