life cycle

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The course of developmental changes through which an organism passes from its inception through the stage at which it reproduces.
• noun A progression through a series of differing stages of development.
• noun The span of a product's existence from its initial development through the period of marketing and active use to eventual obsolescence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun biology the course of stages through which an organism passes from fertilized zygote until maturity, reproduction, and death
• noun by extension the useful life of a product or system; the developmental history of an individual or group in society

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a series of stages through which an organism passes between recurrences of a primary stage
• noun the course of developmental changes in an organism from fertilized zygote to maturity when another zygote can be produced