Population Distribution and Density

Population

Group of individuals in a single species in a specific area

Limiting Factors

Factors that keep population in check (nutrients, predation, predation)

Habitat

Place to sustain organisms, abiotic factors

Niche

What organism do in environment

Fundamental Niche

All Environmental conditions where a species can theoretically survive and reproduce without any outside pressures

Realized Niche

Actual conditions where an organism survives limited by other animals and plants

Leaf Pubescence and Plant Distribution

Presence of fine hairs on leaves in response to high heat stressors, but adaptation disappears as it moves up latitude

How does climate directly affect niche and population distribution

Temperature, Rainfall, Solar, Seasons

How does climate indirectly affect niche and population distribution

Modifies food production, rainfall, predators, parasites/pathogens

Distribution Patterns

Individuals in groups that could attract, repel, or ignore each other resulting in different patterns

Neutral (random) distribution

No attraction or repelling, individual can occur in any area

Regular distribution

Organism in uniform space, repel due to territory

Clumped distribution

Organisms attracted to each other making clumps

How does animal size affect population density

Densities of many animals are highly correlated to body size

How is knowing about distribution, density, and abundance useful?

It can tell us about rarity and vulnerability of the geographic range, habitat tolerance, and population size of animals

Population Dynamics

Looks at processes that underline distribution and abundance

What factors influence population

Births, Immigration, (increase) Death, Emigration (Decrease)

Dispersal

Ecological process that involves movement of individuals away from initial populaton

What influences dispersal?

Climate temperatures, moving to isolated areas, humans adding more resources like food to urban areas, increased breeding

How does climate change affect dispersal?

It drives species to move to new areas while also changing their dispersal paths (i.e habitat fragmentation, currents(