Graphing The Data: Survivorship Curves

Survivorship data are collected for a wide variety of organisms. At a U.S. research site in the state of Georgia, researchers examined the survivorship of two plants: elf orpine (Sedum smallii) and oneflower stitchwort (Minuartia uniflora). For the following survivorship data, plot the survivorship curves using a log-scale y axis.

SURVIVORSHIP DATA IN TWO SPECIES OF PLANTS

MONTH ELF ORPINE ONEFLOWER STITCHWORT
1 1.00 1.00
5 0.81 0.37
7 0.09 0.05
8 0.03 0.02
10 0.02 0.01
12 0.01 0.01
13 0.00 0.00
source: Data estimated from Sharitz, R. R., and J. F. McCormick. 1973. Population dynamics of two competing annual plant species. Ecology 54: 723–740.