organism

population
community
ecosystem
biosphere

Population Ecology
AP Biology
 Life takes place in populations
 Population
 group of individuals of same species in
same area at same time
 rely on same
resources
 interact
 interbreed

AP Biology Ecology: What factors affect a population?

Population
 Why Population Ecology?
 Scientific goal
 understanding the factors that influence the
size of populations
 general principles
 specific cases
 Practical goal
 management of populations QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

 increase population size

 endangered species
 decrease population size
 pests
 maintain population size
 fisheries management
 maintain & maximize sustained yield
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 Factors that affect Population Size
 Abiotic factors
 sunlight & temperature
 precipitation / water
 soil / nutrients
 Biotic factors
 other living organisms
 prey (food)
 competitors
 predators, parasites,
disease
 Intrinsic factors
 adaptations
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 Characterizing a Population
 Describing a population
 population range 1966
1964 1965
1970
1960

1943
 pattern of spacing 1961 1951
Equator 1958 1937
1956
 density Immigration
from Africa

size of population
1970 ~1900


range

AP Biology density
 Population Range
 Geographical limitations
 abiotic & biotic factors
 temperature, rainfall, food, predators, etc.
 habitat
adaptations to adaptations to
polar biome rainforest biome

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 Changes in range
 Range expansions & contractions
 changing environment
aspen oak, maple white birch sequoia

15,000 years ago Alpine tundra

Present
Alpine tundra
glacial period
3 km Spruce-fir forests

Mixed conifer forest

Elevation (km)

Spruce-fir forests
2 km Woodlands
Mixed conifer forest
Grassland,
1 km Woodlands chaparral, and
desert scrub
Grassland, chaparral,
0 km
AP Biology and desert scrub result of competition
 At risk populations
 Endangered species
 limitations to range / habitat
 places species at risk

Devil’s hole
pupfish

Iiwi
Hawaiian Iriomote cat
bird Socorro
isopod

New Guinea
tree
kangaroo
Catalina
Island
mahogany
tree
AP Biology Northern white rhinoceros
 Population Spacing
 Dispersal patterns within a population
Provides insight into the
environmental associations
& social interactions of
individuals in population

clumped

random

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uniform
 Clumped Pattern (most common)

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 Uniform
May result from
direct interactions
Clumped patterns
between individuals
in the population
→ territoriality

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 Population Size
 Changes to
population size
 adding & removing
individuals from a
population
 birth
 death
 immigration
 emigration

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 Population growth rates
 Factors affecting population growth rate
 sex ratio
 how many females vs. males?
 generation time
 at what age do females reproduce?
 age structure
 how females at reproductive age in cohort?

AP Biology
 Why do teenage boys pay high car insurance rates?
Demography
 Factors that affect growth & decline of
populations
 vital statistics & how they change over time
Life table

females males

What adaptations have

led to this difference
in male vs. female
mortality?
AP Biology
 Survivorship curves
 Graphic representation of life table
The relatively straight lines of the plots indicate relatively constant
rates of death; however, males have a lower survival rate overall
than females.

Belding ground squirrel

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 Age structure
 Relative number of individuals of each age
What do these data imply about population growth in
these countries?

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 Survivorship curves What do these graphs
tell about survival &
 Generalized strategies strategy of a species?
1000 Human
(type I)
I. High death rate in
post-reproductive
Hydra years
Survival per thousand

(type II)
100
II. Constant mortality
rate throughout life
Oyster
(type III) span
10

III. Very high early

mortality but the
1
0 25 50 75 100
few survivors then
live long (stay
Percent of maximum life span
AP Biology reproductive)
 Trade-offs: survival vs. reproduction
 The cost of reproduction
 increase reproduction may decrease survival
 age at first reproduction
 investment per offspring
 number of reproductive cycles per lifetime

Natural selection
favors a life
history that
maximizes lifetime
reproductive
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success
 Parental survival
Kestrel Falcons:
The cost of larger
broods to both male
& female parents

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 Reproductive strategies
 K-selected
 late reproduction
 few offspring
 invest a lot in raising offspring
 primates
 coconut
 r-selected
K-selected
 early reproduction
 many offspring
 little parental care
 insects
 many plants
AP Biology r-selected
 Trade offs
Number & size of offspring
vs.
Survival of offspring or parent
r-selected

K-selected
“Of course, long before you mature,
most of you will be eaten.”
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 Life strategies & survivorship curves
1000 K-selection Human
(type I)

Hydra
(type II)
Survival per thousand

100

Oyster
(type III)
10

r-selection
1
0 25 50 75 100

Percent of maximum life span

AP Biology
 Population growth
change in population = births – deaths
Exponential model (ideal conditions)
dN = riN growth increasing at constant rate
dt
N = # of individuals
r = rate of growth
ri = intrinsic rate
t = time
every pair has every pair has
d = rate of change 4 offspring 3 offspring

intrinsic rate =
maximum
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rate of growth
 Exponential growth rate
 Characteristic of populations without
limiting factors
 introduced to a new environment or rebounding from
a catastrophe
Whooping crane African elephant
coming back from near extinction protected from hunting

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 Regulation of population size marking
territory
 Limiting factors = competition
 density dependent
 competition: food, mates,
nesting sites
 predators, parasites,
pathogens
 density independent
 abiotic factors
 sunlight (energy)
 temperature
 rainfall
swarming
competition
AP Biology for nesting locusts
 Introduced species
 Non-native species
 transplanted populations grow
exponentially in new area
 out-compete native species
 loss of natural controls
 lack of predators, parasites,
competitors
 reduce diversity
 examples
 African honeybee
gypsy moth
 gypsy moth
 zebra mussel
 purple loosestrife

AP Biology kudzu
 Zebra mussel

~2 months

 reduces diversity
 loss of food & nesting sites

for animals
 economic damage
AP Biology ecological & economic damage
 Purple loosestrife

1968 1978

 reduces diversity
 loss of food & nesting sites
AP Biology for animals
 Logistic rate of growth
 Can populations continue to grow
exponentially? Of course not!
no natural controls

K=
carrying
capacity

effect of
What happens as natural controls
N approaches K?

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 Carrying capacity

Number of breeding male

fur seals (thousands)
10
 Maximum 8

population size 6

that environment 4

can support with 2

0
no degradation 1915 1925 1935
Time (years)
1945

of habitat 500

Number of cladocerans
 varies with 400
changes in (per 200 ml) 300
resources
200

What’s going 100

on with the
plankton? 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
AP Biology Time (days)
 Changes in Carrying Capacity
 Population cycles
 predator – prey
interactions
At what
population level is the
carrying capacity?

K
K

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 Population of…
China: 1.3 billion
India: 1.1 billion
Human population growth
Doubling times adding 82 million/year
~ 200,000 per day!
250m → 500m = y ()
500m → 1b = y () 2005→6 billion
1b → 2b = 80y (1850–1930) Significant advances
in medicine through
2b → 4b = 75y (1930–1975) science and technology

What factors have contributed to

Industrial Revolution
this exponential growth pattern?

Is the human
population reaching
Bubonic plague "Black Death"
carrying capacity?
1650→500 million

AP Biology
 Distribution of population growth
11
uneven distribution of population:
10 are in developing countries
90% of births

ty
ili
World population in billions

rt
9
uneven distribution of resources: ty

fe
i li
ert

gh
wealthiest 20%
8 consumes ~90% of resources
There are choices as f

hi
i u m
increasing gap
7 between rich & poor
to which future path med
the world takes… er t il ity
f
6 World total low
5 the effect of income
What is K
& education
4 for humans?
10-15 billion? Developing countries
3
2
1 Developed countries
0
1900 1950 2000 2050
AP Biology Time
 Ecological Footprint
USA 30.2

Germany 15.6
over-population or
over-consumption?
Brazil 6.4

Indonesia 3.7 uneven distribution:

wealthiest 20% of world:
86% consumption of resources
Nigeria 3.2
53% of CO2 emissions

India 2.6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
Acres
Amount of land required to support an
AP Biology individual at standard of living of population
 Ecological Footprint

deficit surplus

Based on land & water area

used to produce all resources
each country consumes & to
absorb all wastes it generates

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 Any
Questions?

AP Biology 2007-2008
 Measuring population density
 How do we measure how many
individuals in a population?
 number of individuals in an area
 mark & recapture methods

Difficult to count a moving target sampling populations

AP Biology
 Evolutionary adaptations
 Coping with environmental variation
 regulators
 endotherms
 homeostasis
 (“warm-blooded”)
 conformers
 ectotherms
 (“cold-blooded”)

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 Bright blue marble spinning in space

Ecology

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 Studying organisms in their environment

organism

population

community

ecosystem

biosphere
AP Biology