Human Population Growth

Front

Limiting Factors Noun

---

[lim-it-ing fak-ters]

Back

Limiting Factors

---

Environmental conditions like food scarcity, predators, or disease that restrict the growth of a population within an ecosystem.

---

Example: This image shows many hands reaching for one piece of bread, representing how a limited resource like food can restrict the size of a population.

Front

Exponential Growth Noun

---

[ek-spo-nen-shul grohth]

Back

Exponential Growth

---

A growth pattern where a population increases at an accelerating rate, occurring when resources are unlimited and unchecked.

---

Example: This graph shows that as time passes, the population size increases slowly at first and then grows much more rapidly, creating a J-shaped curve.

Front

Density-Dependent Factors Noun

---

[den-si-tee di-pen-dent fak-ters]

Back

Density-Dependent Factors

---

Limiting factors, such as competition and disease, whose effects on a population's size increase as the population density increases.

---

Example: This diagram shows that factors like disease, resource competition, and waste accumulation limit population growth more as the population becomes denser.

Front

Logistic Growth Noun

---

[loh-jis-tik grohth]

Back

Logistic Growth

---

A population growth pattern that slows and stabilizes as it approaches the environment's carrying capacity, forming an S-shaped curve.

---

Example: This graph shows how a population's growth slows and then stops as it reaches its environment's carrying capacity, forming an S-shaped curve.

Front

Demography Noun

---

[di-mog-ruh-fee]

Back

Demography

---

The scientific study of human populations, including their size, structure, distribution, and changes over time due to various factors.

---

Example: This population pyramid is a graph used in demography to show the distribution of age groups and sexes within a population, helping to visualize population growth.

Front

Demographic Transition Noun

---

[dem-uh-graf-ik tran-zish-un]

Back

Demographic Transition

---

A model describing the shift in a population from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

---

Example: This graph shows how a population changes as a country develops, tracking the shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

Front

Age Structure Noun

---

[eyj struk-cher]

Back

Age Structure

---

The distribution of individuals among different age categories within a population, which helps predict future population growth trends.

---

Example: This population pyramid chart shows how many males and females are in different age groups, which is the age structure of a population.

Front

Birthrate Noun

---

[burth-reyt]

Back

Birthrate

---

The number of live births occurring per one thousand individuals in a population within a given year.

---

Example: This image compares population pyramids. A pyramid with a wide base, like the one for Congo, indicates a high birthrate with many young people.