Name: Lyric Turner

Chapter 4 Section 1 Outline

Population Ecology: Population Dynamics

I. Population Characteristics
A. Population density
The number of organisms per unit area is the Population Density

B. Spatial distribution
Dispersion is the spacing pattern of a population

Can be uniform, clumped, or Random
Pattern primarily driven by resources such as food






Uniform Random Clumped

C. Population ranges
A species range is its distribution across the environment.

A species might not be able to expand its population range because it
cannot survive the abiotic condition found in the expanded region.

II. Population-Limiting Factors
Limiting factors are biotic or abiotic forces that keep populations from
increasing indefinitely.

Limiting factors are either density-independent or _density-
dependent

A. Density-independent factors
Any factor in the environment that does not depend on the number of
members in a population per unit area is a density independent
factor
Usually abiotic and include:
Weather events
fire
Human alterations of landscape
Air, land and water pollution

B. Density-dependent factors
Any factor in the environment that depend on the number of members in
a population per unit area is a density dependent factor
Often biotic, and include:
predation
disease
Competition
parasites

C. Population growth rate
The population growth rate (PGR) explains how fast a given
population grows.

Natality: birthrate of a population in a given year

emigration: number of individuals moving away from a
population

immigration: number of individuals moving into a population

Exponential growth model:

Occurs when growth rate is proportional to population size

All populations grow exponentially until they encounter a
limiting factor








lag time exponential growth

Logistic growth model:
Occurs when a populations growth slow or stop following
exponential growth

A population stops increasing when the number of births
number of deaths, or when emigration immmigration



carrying
capacity


lag phase S-curve

Carrying capacity
Carrying Capacity is the maximum number of individuals in a
species that an environment can support