POPULATION ECOLOGY

Over twenty-five percent of all amphibians are in serious danger of going extinct. Why are some
species more vulnerable to extinction than others? How can current rates of individual survival
and reproduction be projected into the future? The Earth’s human population has doubled in less
than fifty years, and will reach seven billion in 2011. What challenges do we face with this
unprecedented growth? What factors might most effect the rates of this growth into the future?

Population ecology is the study of these and other questions about what factors affect population
and how and why a population changes over time. Population ecology has its deepest historic
roots, and its richest development, in the study of population growth, regulation, and dynamics,
or demography. Human population growth serves as an important model for population
ecologists, and is one of the most important environmental issues of the twenty-first century. But
all populations, from disease organisms to wild-harvested fish stocks and forest trees to the
species in a successional series to laboratory fruit files and paramecia, have been the subject of
basic and applied population biology.

An organism’s life history is a record of major events relating to its growth, development,
reproduction, and survival. Life histories vary tremendously from one species to the next. Why
all the variation? For example, why do some organisms die immediately after reproducing (some
salmon and bamboos, many insects, and all grain crops), while others live on to reproduce
repeatedly (most plants and vertebrates)?

The study of population ecology includes understanding, explaining, and predicting species
distributions. Why do species inhabit particular areas, and how are they prevented from
establishing beyond their range limits? Such range questions have become popular in the last
decade or so in response to concerns about climate change.

Population - Group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area simultaneously.
(6.4 Billion – 2004)

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

- Population - Group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area
simultaneously. (6.4 Billion – 2004)
Natality and Mortality

- Natality - Number of individuals added through reproduction.

 Birth Rate (Humans Born / 1,000)
- Mortality - Number of individuals removed via death.
 Death Rate (Humans Died / 1,000)

- Population Growth Rate - Birthrate minus the death rate. Often expressed as a
percentage of the total population. (Geometrically – Population) (Arithmetically – Food
Supply)

SEX RATIO AND AGE DISTRIBUTION

Sex Ratio - Age Distribution

- Sex Ratio - Relative number of males and females in a population.

 Females determine the number of offspring produced in sexually reproducing
populations.
- Age Distribution - Number of individuals of each age in the population.
 Greatly influences population growth rate
POPULATION DENSITY AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION

- Population Density - Number of individuals per unit area.

- High population may lead to increased competition for resources.

 Dispersal - Movement of individuals from densely populated locations to new

areas.
 Emigration - Movement from an area.
 Immigration - Movement into an area.

POPULATION GROWTH CURVE

- Biotic Potential - Inherent reproductive capacity. (Biological ability to produce

offspring)
- Generally, biotic potential is much above replacement level.
 Natural tendency for increase.
 All living populations follow an exponential growth curve.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH CURVE

• Lag Phase - First portion of the curve; slow population growth.

• Exponential Growth Phase (Log Phase)- More organisms reproducing causing

accelerated growth; continues as long as birth rate exceeds death rate. *Currently*

• Stable Equilibrium Phase - Death rate and birth rate equilibrate; population stops
growing.
Carrying Capacity - Number of individuals of a species that can be indefinitely sustained in a
given area without harming the habitat.

Environmental Resistance - Any factor (limiting factor) in the environment limiting carrying
capacity.

- Four main factors:

 Raw Material Availability
 Energy Availability
 Waste Accumulation and Disposal
 Organism Interactions
 Disease, Predation, and Space
CARRYING CAPACITY and
REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES
CARRYING CAPACITY
 the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without
environmental degradation.
 The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum
population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the
food, habitat, water, and other necessities available in the environment.
 Carrying capacity was originally used to determine the number of animals that could
graze on a segment of land without destroying it
 For the human population, more complex variables suchas sanitation and medical
care are sometimes considered as part of the necessary establishment.
 HUMAN CARRYING CAPACITY is the number of individuals an environment can
support without significant negative impacts to the given organism and its environment.
REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES
Survivorship

 the proportion of individuals in a specified group alive at the beginning of an interval (ex:
five year period) who survived to the end of the period
 survivorship graph: shows the probability of an individual's surviving from birth to any
particular age; constructed for specific cartegories such as sex, race, nationality,
economic status, etc.
There are three types of survivorship
Type 1 - Long lifespans; young survive; old die (mammals)
Type 2 - Constant death rate at all ages (birds and plants)
Type 3 - High death rates among the young (fish and insects)

Predation
Some prey escape their predators or have outer protection, some are camouflaged, and some use
chemicals to repel predators.
Human Population
Objective : Identify the effect of human population in the environment
Introduction :
• "Go Forth And Multiply!"
• Population Growth
• Overpopulation
• Causes of Overpopulation
• Effect of human population in the environment
• Solutions to Overpopulation
Causes of Overpopulation
1. Decline in the Death Rate
2. Better Medical Facilities
3. More Hands to Overcome Poverty
4. Technological Advancement in Fertility Treatment
5. Immigration
6. Lack of Family Planning
Effects of Overpopulation
1. Depletion of Natural Resources
2. Degradation of Environment
3. Conflicts and Wars
4. Rise in Unemployment
Solution to Overpopulation
1. Better Education
2. Making People Aware of Family Planning
3. Tax Benefits or Concessions
4. Knowledge of Sex Education
Reference
• http://www.globalissues.org/issue/198/human-population
• https://wordpress.clarku.edu/id125-envsus/2017/04/07/how-does-population-growth-
affects-the-environment-sustainability/
• https://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-effects-of-population-growth.htm
• https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-overpopulation.php