Population Ecology

Front

What pattern of growth will a population with limited resources show?

Back

Logistic growth is characterized by an initial exponential growth phase followed by a slowdown as the population reaches its carrying capacity.

Front

What are things that prevent a population from growing exponentially?

Back

Limiting factors are environmental conditions that restrict population growth, such as food availability, habitat space, and disease.

Front

The way in which individuals of a population are spread out is called?

Back

Population dispersion refers to the distribution of individuals within a population, which can be clumped, uniform, or random.

Front

How quickly a population grows is called?

Back

Growth rate is the measure of how fast a population increases in size over a specific period.

Front

Diseases may spread more rapidly when an area is crowded, so disease is considered to be a?

Back

Density-dependent limiting factor, as its impact on the population increases with population density.

Front

What is carrying capacity?

Back

Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals of a species that an environment can sustainably support.

Front

What is population density?

Back

Population density is the number of individuals per unit area or volume, indicating how crowded a population is.

Front

What is the difference between density-dependent and density-independent factors?

Back

Density-dependent factors are influenced by population size (e.g., competition, predation), while density-independent factors affect populations regardless of size (e.g., natural disasters).

Front

What is a survivorship curve?

Back

A survivorship curve is a graph that represents the number of individuals surviving at each age for a given species.

Front

What is exponential growth?

Back

Exponential growth occurs when a population increases by a constant proportion over time, leading to a J-shaped curve.