Table 2:

All biological assumptions and their mechanism of inclusion in the model. These assumptions provide a very general framework, allowing interpretation of the qualitative behaviour of model results for any system satisfying their description (although for specific quantitative predictions, system-specific parameters and initial variable values would naturally be required)

Assumption	Included in model
There is finite available energy in the environment (fluctuating by time of year)	EnvE (t mod12)
Individuals are not all equally successful at obtaining energy from the environment	FRankp
Individuals within the population compete with each other to obtain the available energy and, at large enough population sizes, are limited in their success by that competition	Fp(t)
Individuals have baseline metabolic needs, unaffected by stress	Enp
Individuals who experience stress regulate their physiological needs accordingly and, up to a threshold point, this regulation will successfully allow the individual to continue to function uncompromised; beyond this threshold, the individual will be unable to compensate physiologically for the impact of the stressor (this is based on the work of McEwen and Wingfield (2003))	InEp(Sp), DeEp(Sp), and the threshold points A and B
An individual's physical condition is dependent on whether or not the energy they obtain from the environment exceeds their energetic needs over time	Cp(t)
Reproduction involves an energetic cost that exceeds mere survival, and individuals who are failing to meet their own energetic needs will be unable to reproduce successfully	Via algorithmic implementation (description in text of Materials and methods section)
Individuals have a maximal life expectancy	MaxAp