Chapter 53 Population Ecology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Pages 1–3 of the Population Ecology notes.

Population

A group of individuals of a single species living in the same general area, sharing resources, environmental factors, and breeding interactions.

Boundaries

Natural or arbitrarily defined limits that determine which individuals belong to a population.

Population density

The number of individuals per unit area or volume.

Dispersion

The pattern of spacing among individuals within the population’s boundaries.

Clumped dispersion

Individuals are clustered in patches, often due to habitat, resources, or social behavior.

Uniform dispersion

Even spacing among individuals, often due to antagonistic interactions like territoriality or resource competition.

Random dispersion

Positions of individuals are independent of one another, with no strong attractions or repulsions.

Demography

The study of the vital statistics of populations and how they change over time.

Life table

A table that summarizes survival and reproductive rates by age-group, usually built from a cohort.

Cohort

A group of individuals of the same age tracked from birth to death.

Survivorship curve

A plot of the proportion or number of individuals alive at each age for a cohort.

Type I survivorship curve

Low mortality early in life with increasing mortality at older ages; seen in large mammals and humans.

Type II survivorship curve

A relatively constant death rate throughout life.

Type III survivorship curve

Very high early mortality with higher survival among those that live to older ages; common in species with many offspring and little parental care.

Reproductive rate

The rate at which females produce offspring, often analyzed by age and female.

Reproductive output

The average number of female offspring produced by females in a given age-group.

Breeding female

In demography, the focus is on females producing offspring since only females give birth to offspring.

Age-specific reproductive rates

Variation in reproductive output by the age of females, often used in life tables.

Mark-recapture method

A technique to estimate population size by capturing, marking, releasing, and recapturing individuals; N can be estimated with N = (s × n) / x under certain assumptions.

Indicator of population size

Indirect measures such as nests, burrows, tracks, or fecal droppings used to estimate population size.

Immigration

The influx of new individuals into a population from outside.

Emigration

The movement of individuals out of a population to other locations.

Births

The addition of individuals to a population through reproduction.

Population dynamics

The study of how births, deaths, immigration, and emigration affect population size over time.

Genetic profiling (PCR and STRs)

Using PCR to amplify short tandem repeats (STRs) to create genetic profiles and identify which breeding female laid a given batch of offspring.