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Science 7 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5783, p. 45
DOI: 10.1126/science.1124493
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Technical Comments

Response to Comment on "On the Regulation of Populations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, and Insects"

Richard M. Sibly,1* Daniel Barker,2 Michael C. Denham,3 Jim Hone,4 Mark Pagel1

Our conclusions are unaffected by removal of the time series identified by Peacock and Garshelis as harvest data. The relationship between a population's growth rate and its size is generally concave in mammals, irrespective of their body sizes. However, our data set includes quality data for only five mammals larger than 20 kilograms, so strong conclusions cannot be made about these animals.

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AJ, UK.
2 Sir Harold Mitchell Building, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TH, UK.
3 Statistical Sciences Europe, GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development Limited, New Frontiers Science Park, Third Avenue, Harlow, Essex CM19 5AW, UK.
4 Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra ACT 2601, Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: r.m.sibly{at}reading.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)