Population Ecology Flashcards
(26 cards)
What is ecology the study of?
Study of the interactions living things have with each other and with the environment around them
What does Population Ecology focus on (2)?
the changes in population size
factors that regulate populations over time
How does a population increase?
increases though birth and immigration to an area
How does population decrease?
decrease though death and emigration out of an area
What is a population?
All members of a single species that live together in a specific geographic area
What is a community?
All species living in a specified geographic region
What is an Ecosystem?
Communities of living things and their nonliving environments
How do we estimate population size?
generally by marking the pretense of individuals in a representative area
Why are populations in flux?
Organisms dying and new organisms moving in will change the population size
What does a Exponential Growth Model look like?
A “ J “: is also called a J-shaped growth model
What does a Exponential Growth Model show?
Slow growth at first then fast growth rate
What does a Logisitc Growth Model look like?
A “ S “: called an S-shaped growth model
What limits the continued growth of a Logistic Growth Model (S-shaped growth)
Environmental resistance such as running out of food, drought, increased predation, ect.
What is a birth rate?
Number of individuals born in a given time period expressed as a proportion of the total population
What is a death rate?
Number of individuals that die in a given time period expressed as a proportion of the total population
What does the Intrinsic rate of population increase measure?
Measure of a population’s potential for growth
What is population density?
number of individuals of a species per unit area of volume
What does dispersion pattern refer to?
the way individuals are spaced within their area
What are three types of Dispersion patters?
clumped
uniform
random
How would a Random pattern of dispersion look?
individuals in a population are spaced in an unpredictable way
What does a uniform pattern look like?
Equally spaced in the environment
What is a carrying capacity?
the maximum population density of a given species in a defined geographic area
What can carrying capacity be used to calculate?
the limits of population growth
What are reproductive strategies
Species characteristics that effect the number of fertile offspring an organism bears
