fecundity

Fecundity is a descriptor of productivity that can be defined in multiple ways; including the capability to produce offspring. It may refer to the level of fertility of human, animal, and organic life as measured by the number of gametes (eggs), seed set, or asexual propagules. Additionally, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism.

== Human demography == Human demography considers only human fecundity, at culturally varying rates, whereas population biology studies all organisms. The term fecundity in population biology is often used to denote the rate of offspring production over one time step (typically annual). In this sense, fecundity may include both birth rates and survival of young to that time step. While fecundity levels vary geographically, fecundity is generally a consistent feature of each culture. Fecundation is another term for fertilization.