Biology for Science Majors II BIOL 1307 Lecture Notes

Flashcards of vocabulary terms and definitions related to population ecology from the lecture notes.

Population Ecology

The study of how and why populations change.

Population

A group of individuals of a single species that occupy the same general area.

Births and Immigration

Add individuals to a population.

Deaths and Emigration

Remove individuals from a population.

Population Density

The number of individuals of a species per unit area or volume.

Dispersion Pattern

The way individuals are spaced within their area.

Clumped Dispersion Pattern

Resources are often unequally distributed and individuals are grouped in patches.

Uniform Dispersion Pattern

Individuals are most likely interacting and equally spaced in the environment.

Random Dispersion Pattern

Individuals in a population are spaced in an unpredictable way, without a pattern, perhaps resulting from the random dispersal of windblown seeds.

Survivorship Curves

Plot survivorship as the proportion of individuals from an initial population that are alive at each age.

Type I Survivorship Curve

Low death rates during early and middle life and an increase in death rates among older age groups.

Type II Survivorship Curve

A constant death rate over the organism’s life span.

Type III Survivorship Curve

High death rates for the young and a lower death rate for survivors.

Exponential Growth

Rate of population increase under ideal conditions.

Per Capita Rate of Increase (r)

The average contribution of each individual to population growth.

Logistic Growth Model

Population growth is slowed by limiting factors as the population size increases.

Carrying Capacity (K)

The maximum population size a particular environment can sustain.

Intraspecific Competition

Competition between individuals of the same species for limited resources.

Density-Independent Factors

Factors unrelated to population density.

Boom-and-Bust Cycles

Fluctuations in density with regularity, may be due to food shortages or predator-prey interactions.

Sustainable Resource Management

Harvesting crops without damaging the resource, maintaining a high population growth rate to replenish the population.