Chapter 10 Notes

Distribution and Abundance of Populations and Species

 Ecologists usually define a population as a group of potentially interbreeding individuals of

a single species inhabiting a specific area.
 A population studied by ecologists may consist of a highly localized group of individuals
representing a fraction of the total population of a species, or it may consist of all the
individuals of a species across its entire range.
 Attributes of populations are determined by interactions between the physiological
ecology of a species and the biotic and abiotic conditions that individuals in a population
encounter.
 Population ecology serves as a bridge between physiological and community ecology.
 Ecologists study population for a number of reasons:
o Detailed understanding of natural populations can provide insight into the general
processes that drive ecological interactions.
o Population level interactions serve as the foundation for many resource-based
economies, and thus there are often strong societal pressures to understand
population dynamics.
o Population ecology is at the center of many studies of species at risk, with
recovery plans often constructed to allow for the recovery plans often constricted
to allow for the recovery of threatened populations.
o One of the greatest pressures faced by many plant and animal species around the
planet has at its heart a shift in the population of a single species – the
exponential growth of human populations.
 All populations share several characteristics;
o Distribution
 Distribution of a population includes size, shape and location of the area it
occupies.
o Number of individuals within it and their density.
 Density meaning the number of individuals per unit area.
 Population density can be further refined as either absolute density or
ecological density.
 Absolute density is what most scientists refer to when they say
“density” and it is the number of individuals of a population per
unit area.
 Ecological density incorporates the concept of the niche, in that
not all of the conditions found within a given area will contain the
niche requirements of a particular species.
o Example: within a large tract of land in the tundra, there
will be areas suitable for musk ox grazing, and rocky areas
that do not support suitable plant growth. The ecological
density of the musk ox would be the number of individuals
per unit suitable habitat.
o Additional characteristics of populations:
 Their age distributions, sex ratios, birth and death rates, immigration and
emigration rates and rates of growth.

10. 1 Distribution Limits

 The physical environment limits the geographic distributions of species.
o Niche represents the multidimensional set of conditions necessary for a species to
persist. The niche is an abstract concept, and not a tangible trait or specific
location on the landscape. However, across a landscape there will be variability in
environmental conditions, prey distributions and other critical axes of the niche.
Thus, the conditions defined by a species niche will only be found in specific
locations, and therefore species should only be able to be found on the landscape
in locations where conditions fall within those required by a species niche.
o One determining factor of the geographic distribution of a species is the
underlying distribution of biotic and abiotic conditions in combination with a
species’ niche requirements.
o When a species occupies habitat that contains conditions on the edge of those
found within species’ niche, the metabolic costs compensating for environmental
stressors will take up a greater part of the organism’s energy budget (e.g.,
thermoregulation. Partly because of these energy constraints, the physical
environment places limits on the distributions of populations.
Kangaroo Distributions and Climate
o The eastern grey kangaroo, Macropus giganteus is confined to the eastern third
of the continent. The climatic factor that distinguishes these varied biomes is little
season variation in precipitation or dominant by summer precipitation.
o Most of the western grey kangaroo’s range coincides with the distribution of the
temperate woodland and shrub land biome in Australia.
o Red kangaroo’s range are savanna and desert. Of the three species of large
kangaroos, the red kangaroo occupies the hottest and driest areas.
 A Tiger Beetle of Cold Climates
 o The tiger beetle Cicindela longilabris is distributed from the Yukon Territory in
Northwestern Canada t the Atlantic provinces of eastern Canada.
o This northern band of beetle populations coincides with the distribution of
northern temperate forest and boreal forest in North America.
 Distributions of Barnacles Along an Intertidal Exposure Gradient
o Barnacles one of the most common intertidal organisms show distinctive patterns
of zonation within the intertidal zone.
 Adult Chthamalus stellatus are restricted to the upper levels of the
intertidal zone while adult Baalanus balanoides are limited to the middle
and lower levels.
o Vulnerability to desiccation appears to exclude Balanus from the upper intertidal
zone.
10.2 Dispersal
Dispersal can alter species distributions and local population densities.
o The seeds of plants disperse with wind or water or may be transported by a
variety of mammals, insects, or birds.
o As a consequence of movements such as these the population ecologist trying to
understand local population structure must consider immigration and emigration
the local population.
o Dispersal for individuals allows for the persistence of metapopulations and has
important consequences for natural communities.
o Dispersal is different from migration. Migration is the seasonal movement of
individuals from one location to another, while dispersal is a permanent exodus
from one population into another causes and consequences of each are
different).
o Dispersal is one of the least-studied aspects of population ecology.
 Dispersal of Expanding Populations
o Expanding populations are those that are in the process of increasing their
geographic range.
o Why should this type of population provide us with some of the best records of
species dispersal?
 The appearance of a new species in an area is quickly noted and recorded,
especially if the species impacts the local economy or human health or
safety.
 Range changes in Response to Climate Change
o Through the distribution of maple and hemlock overlap today, they did not during
the height of the last ice age. In addition, maple colonized the northern part of its
 present range from the lower Mississippi Valley Region, while hemlock colonized
its present range from a refuge along the Atlantic coast.
o Maple dispersed faster.
o Hemlock did not reach the northwestern limit of its present distribution until
2,000 years ago.
o The pollen preserved in lake sediments indicates that forest trees in eastern
North America spread northward following the retreat of the glaciers of the rate
of 100 to 400 m per year.
o Dispersal will allow species ranges to move along with climate.
o Significant dispersal also takes place within established populations whose ranges
are not changing.
 Dispersal in Response to Changing Food Supply
o Predators show several kinds of responses to variation in prey density.
o Numerical responses are changes in the density of predator populations in
response to increases prey density.
o The study proposed the kestrels and owls must move from place to place in
response to local increases in vole populations.
 Dispersal in Rivers and Streams
o One of the most distinctive features of the stream and river environment is
current, the downstream flow of water.
o The effects of current are substantial and influence everything from the amount
of oxygen in the water to the size, shape and behavior of stream organisms.
o Stream dwellers have a variety of characteristics that help them maintain their
position in streams.
o Microorganisms resist being washed away by adhering to the surfaces of stones,
wood and other substrates.
o Despite these means of staying in place, stream organisms do get washed
downstream in large numbers particularly during flash floods, or spates.
o This downstream movement of stream of stream organisms is referred to as drift.
Some drift is due to displacement of organisms during flash floods. Some is also
due to the active movement of organisms downstream.
o The colonization cycle is a dynamic view of stream populations in which upstream
and downstream dispersal, as well as reproduction, have major influences on
stream populations.
o Dispersal can strongly influence local population diversity.

10.3 Metapopulations
  Some populations, called metapopulations, consist of interconnected subpopulations.
o A group of subpopulations living on such patches connected by exchange of
individuals among patches make up a metapopulation.
o Metapopulations develop due to interactions between the biology of the species
of interest and the landscape upon which it lives.
 For example, some species have very specific habitat requirements, such
as a butterfly that can only oviposit on certain meadow plants. If meadows
exist as large and continuous areas, you would expect the butterfly
population to be large and continuous. However, if the meadows are only
found as small patches of land surrounded by forests, agricultural fields, or
other habitat unsuitable for this butterfly, then you would expect this
species to form small populations in these meadows.
 If the biology of the organism allows for dispersal of individuals from one
meadow to another, this then forms a metapopulation.
o As human development of formerly intact areas continues, more species are
potentially facing the fragmentation of their habitat and populations.
o The critical issue relevant to metapopulations is whether individuals are able to
disperse from one population to another.
 If dispersal does not occur, then several small and unconnected
populations occur on the landscape.
 If dispersal is common, these small populations can be viewed as
subpopulations of a larger metapopulation.
 A metapopulation of an Alpine Butterfly
o Rocky Mountain Parnassian butterfly
o Butterflies were also more likely to leave small populations and disperse to large
populations.
10.4 Distribution Patterns

On small scales, individuals within populations are distributed in patterns that may be random,
regular or clumped; on larger scales, individuals within a population are clumped.
 What is large or small depends on the size of organisms or other ecological phenomenon
under study.
 Small scale refers to distances of no more than a few hundred meters, over which there is
little environmental change significant to the organism under study.
 Large scale refers to areas over which there is substantial environmental change. In this
sense large scale may refer to patterns over an entire continent or patterns along a
mountain slope, where environmental gradients are steep.
  The spatial event is the area being studied or over which an ecological process or
population occurs. The spatial event can be directly measured or described qualitatively.

Distribution of Individuals on Small Scales

 The basic patterns of distribution are observed on small scales: random, regular, or
clumped.
o A random distribution is one in which individuals within a population have an
equal chance of living anywhere in an area.
o A regular distribution is one in which individuals are uniformly spaced.
o A clumped-distribution, individuals have a much higher probability of being found
in some areas than others.
o The three basic patterns of distribution are produced by;
 The kinds of interactions that take place between individuals within a
population
 By the structure of the physical environment
 And by a combination of interactions and environmental structure.
o Clumped distributions can also occur if individuals produce offspring that fail to
disperse far from the parents.
o Regular patterns of distribution are produced when individuals avoid each other
or claim exclusive use of a patch or landscape.
o Random distribution results from neutral response to each other. Reinforced by
random patterns of disturbance.
 Distributions of Tree species on Vancouver Island
o Both completion among individuals and local environment conditions can
influence the spatial distribution of individuals within a population.
o Prediction from case:
 The distribution of trees should become more regular over time (moving
from the young stand to the old stand).