Describing Populations

Explain the usefulness of tracking

population sizes
Define population density
Describe three ways populations can
be distributed
 Review: What is a population?
Population: all the
members of the same
species that live in the
same place at the same
time
Field mice living in a
corn field, grizzly bears
of Yellowstone Park Wolves in Yellowstone NP

area
 Population Size
Why care about
the size of the
population?
How can scientists
estimate the
population (say of
Elephant Seals on
a beach in CA)?
 Population Size
The number of individuals
in a population at a given
time
Sudden and dramatic
decreases in population
size can indicate an
unhealthy population
headed toward extinction.
Ecologists often use Did
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estimate population size. drove
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 Mark and Recapture
Common way of
estimating population
size
Estimating Population
How can you
estimate the
population of
trees in this
valley?

WHY NOT
COUNT THEM
ALL?

WHY IS
SAMPLING
NEEDED?
Population Density
What is
population
density?

What are
advantages
and
disadvantages
of high and
low density?
 Population Density
Measure of how crowded a population is
Low population density:
More space and resources;
finding mates can be difficult
Larger organisms
generally have lower
population densities.
High population density:
Finding mates is easier; tends to be more competition;
more infectious disease; more vulnerability to predators
 Population Distribution
How organisms are arranged within an area:

UNIFORM RANDOM CLUMPED

Occurs when Occurs where Most Common. Occurs
individuals hold resources needed are where resources are
territory or compete found throughout together.
for space.
Ex: plants in desert Ex: wildflowers in Ex: Water hole in
meadow desert, humans in cities
Many bird species are territorial.
In territorial birds species, what
kind of population structure
would you expect?

UNIFORM
 Population Distribution
Uniform distribution:
Organisms evenly spaced

Random distribution:
Organisms arranged in
no particular pattern

Clumped distribution:
Organisms grouped near resources; most
common distribution in nature
What type of distribution?

CLUMPED

WHY?
 Population Growth?
Why are there so few whales, but so many
bacteria?
 Factors the Determine
Population Growth
A populations relative
birth and death rates
affect how it grows.

More births than deaths

= population increase
More deaths than births
= population decrease
 Survivorship
Survivorship curves
show how the
likelihood of death
varies with age.
Type I : species that
have a high survival
rate of the young, live
out most of their
expected life span and
die in old age.

Ex: Humans
Type II: species that
have a relatively
constant death rate
throughout their life
span. Death could be
due to hunting or
diseases.

Examples: coral,
squirrels, honey bees
and many reptiles.
Type III: species
that have many
young, most of
which die very
early in their life.

Ex: Plants,
oysters and sea
urchins
If a tree wants to successfully reproduce, how many seeds
should it spread?

If a couple in India knows for sure there child will survive to

adulthood, will they decide to have more or less children do
you think?
 Immigration/Emigration
In addition to births and deaths, population
growth is affected by immigration and
emigration individuals moving into and out
of a population.
Migration, seasonal movement into and out of
an area, can temporarily
affect population size.
 Every spring, many species of
bird travel north to the Arctic to
breed, and in the fall travel
south again for the winter. This
is an example of _____

MIGRATION
 Patterns of Growth
EXPONETIAL GROWTH
Population increases by WHAT SHAPE
a fixed percentage DOES
EXPONENTIAL
every year. GROWTH LOOK
Normally occurs only LIKE?
when small populations
are introduced to an
area with ideal
Starts slowly, then
environmental conditions
takes off J-
Rarely lasts long Shaped Curve
 Logistic Growth and Limiting
Factors
Growth almost always slows and
stops due to limiting factors.
Limiting factors:
Environmental
characteristics
slow population growth
and determine carrying
capacity.
Density-dependent:
Influence changes with population density
(food, water, disease)
Density-independent:
Influence does not change with population
density (floods, fires, landslides)
 What Might Be Some Limiting
Factors in the Ocean?
Limiting factors
may include:
Salinity
Ph
Sunlight
Dissolved oxygen
Temperature
Logistic Growth

Carrying Capacities
are NOT fixed
 Biotic Potential
An organisms maximum ability
to produce offspring in ideal
conditions
Many factors influence biotic
potential, including gestation
time and generation time.
Organisms with high biotic potential
can recover more quickly from
population declines than organisms
with low biotic potential.