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The life history of a species defines the sequence of events that occur throughout the course of its existence, such as how resources are allocated for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. The life table of an organism is influenced by life history features. The environment and natural selection shape a species' life history, which is genetically defined.

• When a species reproduces only once in its lifetime and then dies, this is known as semelparity. Such species spend the majority of their resource budget on a single reproductive event, jeopardizing their health to the point of extinction. Bamboo, which flowers once and then dies, and the Chinook salmon are both examples of semelparity.
• A kind of semelparity is semiparity.
• Fecundity refers to an individual's reproductive capabilities within a population. In other words, fecundity refers to the number of offspring that might be produced if an individual has as many offspring as feasible while also continuing the reproductive cycle as soon as possible after the offspring are born.

Iteroparity refers to species that reproduce many times throughout their lifetimes. Some creatures can only mate once a year, although they can survive several mating seasons. The pronghorn antelope is an example of a seasonal estrus cycle ("heat"), which is a hormonally produced physiological condition that prepares the body for successful mating. Only during the estrus phase of the cycle do these species' females mate.