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Population Ecology-1

The document provides an overview of population ecology, defining key concepts such as population size, density, dispersion, age structure, natality, and mortality. It discusses different population growth curves, limits to population growth, carrying capacity, reproductive strategies, and survivorship curves. The information highlights how environmental factors influence population dynamics and the various strategies organisms use to survive and reproduce.

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13 views18 pages

Population Ecology-1

The document provides an overview of population ecology, defining key concepts such as population size, density, dispersion, age structure, natality, and mortality. It discusses different population growth curves, limits to population growth, carrying capacity, reproductive strategies, and survivorship curves. The information highlights how environmental factors influence population dynamics and the various strategies organisms use to survive and reproduce.

Uploaded by

Anime Lover
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Population

Ecology
Population:
• All the individuals of a species that live
together in an area

Demography:
• The statistical study of populations, allows
predictionstobemadeabouthowa population
will change
Key Characteristics of Populations

▪ Size
▪ Density
▪ Dispersion
▪ Age structure
▪ Natality
▪ Mortality
1. Population Size and Density

Defined as the numbers of individuals per unit area or per unit volume of
environment. Larger organisms as trees may be expressed as 100 trees per
hectare, whereas smaller ones like phyto-planktons (as algae) as 1 million cells
per cubic metre of water.

Differentiated into crude density and ecological density.


• Crude density:
It is the density (number or biomass) per unit total space.
• Ecological density:
It is the density (number or biomass) per unit of habitat space i.e.,
available area or volume that can actually be colonized by the
population.
2. Population dispersion
Dispersion is the spatial pattern of in-dividuals in a population relative to
one another.
In nature, due to various biotic interactions and influence of abiotic
factors, the following three basic population distributions can be
observed:-
Uniform distribution:
Rare in nature.
Result of fierce competition for very limited resources.

Random distribution:
Uniform environmental conditions .
Members are neither attracting nor repelling each other.

Clumped distribution:
Suitable physical, chemical, and biological conditions.
Social groups.
Offspring not mobile.
3. Age structure
Ecologically there are three major ecological ages in any population. These are,
pre-reproductive, reproductive and post reproductive. The relative duration of
these age groups in proportion to the life span varies greatly with different
organisms.

Age pyramid:
Triangular structure: High percentage of young individuals. Birth rate is high and
population growth may be exponential.

Bell-shaped structure: Indicates a stationary population having an equal number


of young and middle aged individuals. As the growth rate becomes slow and
stable, i.e., the pre-reproductive and reproductive age groups become more or
less equal in size, post-reproductive group remaining as the smallest.

Urn-shaped structure: Indicates a low percentage of young individuals and


shows a declining population. Such an urn-shaped figure is obtained when the
birth rate is drastically reduced the pre-reproductive group dwindles in
proportion to the other two age groups of the population.
4. Natality (birth rate) **
Population increase because of Natality. It is simply a broader term covering the
production of new individuals by birth, hatching, by fission, etc. The Natality rate
may be expressed as the number of organisms born per female per unit time.
There are distinguished two types of natality.
A. Maximum Natality: Maximum production of new individuals under ideal
conditions which means that there are no ecological limiting factors and that
reproduction is limited only by physiological factors. It is a constant for a given
population. This is also called fecundity rate.
B. Ecological Natality: Also called realized natality or simply natality, it is the
population increase under an actual, existing specific condition. Thus it takes into
account all possible existing environmental conditions. This is also designated as
fertility rate.

5. Mortality (death rate) **


Mortality means the rate of death of individuals in the population. Mortality may
be of following types:
A.Minimum Mortality: Also called specific or potential mortality, it represents
the theo-retical minimum loss under ideal or non-limiting conditions. It is a
constant for a population.
B.Ecological Mortality: It is the actual loss of individuals under a given
environmental condition. Ecological mortality is not constant for a population and
varies with population and environmental conditions, such as predation, disease
and other ecological haz-ards.
Population growth curve

J – Shaped Curve
S – Shaped or Sigmoid Curve.

J – Shaped Curve:
The population grows exponentially, and
after attaining the peak value, the
population may abruptly crash. This increase
in population is continued till large amount
of food materials exist in the habitat.
Due to increase in population size, food
supply in the habitat becomes limited which
ultimately results in decrease in population
size.
dN/dt = rN

Here dN/dt represents rate of change in population size,


r is biotic potential and
N stands for population size
S – Shaped Curve:
When a few organisms are introduced in an
area, the population increase is very slow in
the beginning, i.e., positive acceleration phase
or lag phase, in the middle phase, the
population increase becomes very rapid, i.e.,
logarithmic phase, and finally in the last phase
the population increase is slowed down, i.e.,
negative acceleration phase, until an
equilibrium is attained around which the
population size fluctuates according to
variability of environment.
No major increase can occur is referred to as
saturation level or carrying capacity (K).

dN/dt = rN (K – N/K)
where, dN/dt is the rate of change in population size,
r is biotic potential
N is population size
**Limits to Population Growth
Two major themes govern the growth of populations over time:

1. The resources of an environment control the growth and continued existence of


populations

2. The resources of an environment are limited.

Actual rate of increase is influenced by environmental conditions:

• nutrient supply
• competition for space
• Pollution
• natural catastrophe
• etc.
Carrying Capacity (K)
• Maximum number of individuals that can be sustained in a particular
habitat.
• Logistic growth occurs when population size is limited by carrying capacity.

**Reproductive Strategies

Different environments and population densities can favor different reproductive


strategies.

• r-selection favors traits that maximize number of offspring

• K-selection favors traits that improve offspring quality


**Survivorship Curves

• Represent age-specific patterns of death for a given plot in a given environment.


• Each species has a characteristic curve.
• Three types of curves are common in nature.
TYPE I:
• Highly convex curve.
• The rate of survival of individuals is high at an early and middle age and
goes on decreasing as the individual progresses into old age.
• Most of the individuals survive till they reach adulthood, and their rate of
mortality is maximum at an old age.
• Individuals receive parental care till they reach early adulthood.
• They produce comparatively less number of offspring.
• This strategy of these individuals is called K strategy.

Examples: Many large animals including humans (basically almost all


mammals) exhibit this type of survivorship.
TYPE II:

• This type of curve is a linear or a diagonal type of curve.


• The rate of survival of the individuals remains the same throughout
their lives.
• Their mortality rate remains constant at every age.
• These individuals exhibit a strategy that is intermediate to type I and
type III survivorship.
• This type is largely theoretical.

Examples: Many birds, mice, and rabbits exhibit either slightly


sigmoid or concave curves that are very similar to a linear curve.
TYPE III:
• This type of curve is a highly concave curve.
• The rate of survival is very low in the early ages of the individuals and
increases comparatively later in their lives.
• Their rate of mortality is quite high in the early ages and may
decrease comparatively in their later lives.
• In order to compensate for this, these individuals produce a large
number of offspring.
• The offspring receive very little parental care.
• This strategy of these individuals is said to be the r strategy.
Examples: Some birds, some insects, and oak trees exhibit this type
of survivorship curve.

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