Fertility is the natural capability to produce offspring. As a measure, fertility rate is the number of offspring born per mating pair, individual or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction (influenced by gamete production, fertilization and carrying a pregnancy to term) . A lack of fertility is infertility while a lack of fecundity would be called sterility.
Human fertility depends on factors of nutrition, sexual behavior, consanguinity, culture, instinct, endocrinology, timing, economics, way of life, and emotions.
In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to produce which is termed fecundity. While fertility can be measured, fecundity cannot be. Demographers measure the fertility rate in a variety of ways, which can be broadly broken into "period" measures and "cohort" measures. "Period" measures refer to a cross-section of the population in one year. "Cohort" data on the other hand, follows the same people over a period of decades. Both period and cohort measures are widely used.
Fertility (German:Fruchtbarkeit) is a 1929 German silent film directed by Eberhard Frowein.
Soil fertility refers to the ability of a soil to sustain plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in lasting constant yields of high quality.
A fertile soil has the following properties:
In lands used for agriculture and other human activities, soil fertility typically arises from the use of soil conservation practices.