Population Dynamics and Growth Patterns

These flashcards cover key concepts and definitions related to population dynamics, including factors influencing population growth, competition, dispersion patterns, reproductive strategies, and survivorship.

Population

All the members of a specific species that live within a community.

Three factors that determine population growth

Births, Deaths, Migration (including Immigration and Emigration).

Environmental resistance

Environmental factors that collectively limit population size, such as disease, predation, and resource availability.

Boom-and-bust cycles

Population cycles occurring in short-lived, rapidly reproducing organisms linked to environmental factors.

Exponential growth

A pattern of continued population growth resulting in a J-shaped curve.

Biotic Potential

The maximum rate that a population could increase under ideal conditions.

Carrying capacity

The maximum number of individuals a population can sustain given the resources available in the ecosystem.

Density-dependent factors

Factors that vary with the population density, affecting the size of a population.

Interspecific competition

Competition between individuals from different species for limited resources.

Intraspecific competition

Competition between individuals of the same species.

Clumped dispersion pattern

A population distribution pattern where individuals are clustered together.

Uniform dispersion pattern

A population distribution pattern resulting from competition and social interactions.

Random dispersion pattern

A rare population distribution pattern where individuals are spaced without a predictable pattern.

Semelparity

A reproductive strategy where individuals produce all their offspring in a single reproductive event.

Iteroparity

A reproductive strategy where individuals reproduce in successive years or breeding seasons.

Survivorship curves

Graphs that show the number of individuals surviving at each age for a given species.

Replacement level fertility (RLF)

The level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next.