Chapter 10: Population Dynamics

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental population dynamics concepts, dispersal mechanisms, survivorship types, demographic tables, and rates of population change based on Chapter 10.

Population Dynamics

The area of ecology concerned with the factors influencing the expansion, decline, and maintenance of populations over time.

Dispersal

The movement of individuals into (immigration) or out of (emigration) a local population, altering local population densities.

Numerical Response

A change in predator density in response to changes in prey availability or density, caused by either altered predator reproductive success or predator movement into an area.

Drift

The downstream movement of stream-dwelling organisms, occurring either actively through behavioral drift or passively during flood events.

Colonization Cycle

A process in stream ecology where stream populations are maintained over time through a dynamic balance between downstream drift and compensating upstream movement.

Metapopulation

A group of spatially separated subpopulations interconnected by the exchange of individuals through limited immigration and emigration.

Survivorship Curve

A visual plot summarizing the pattern of survival in a population by displaying the logarithm of the number of survivors against age.

Cohort Life Table

A life table constructed by tracking a group of individuals born at the same time and recording their survival and mortality from birth until death.

Static Life Table

A life table constructed by recording the age at death of a sample of individuals from a population during a specific time snapshot.

Age Distribution

The proportion of individuals belonging to different age classes within a population, reflecting past history of survival, reproduction, and future growth potential.

Type I Survivorship

A pattern of survival in which juvenile survival is high and the majority of mortality occurs among older individuals in the population.

Type II Survivorship

A pattern of survival where individuals experience a constant rate of mortality regardless of age.

Type III Survivorship

A pattern of survival characterized by high mortality among young individuals, followed by relatively high survivorship later in life.

Birthrate

The number of young produced per female over a specific period of time within a population.

Fecundity Schedule

A systematic tabulation of birthrates for females belonging to different age classes in a population.

Net Reproductive Rate ($R_0$)

The average number of offspring produced by an individual in a population during its lifetime, calculated as $R_0 = \sum l_x m_x$.

Geometric Rate of Increase (\lambda)

The ratio of population size at a future time to population size at an earlier time for species with non-overlapping generations, defined as $\lambda = \frac{N_{t+1}}{N_t}$.

Generation Time ($T$)

The average age of reproduction in a population, calculated as $T = \frac{\sum x l_x m_x}{R_0}$.

Per Capita Rate of Increase ($r$)

The per-individual rate of population growth when generations overlap, calculated as $r = \frac{\ln(R_0)}{T}$.

Africanized Honeybee (Apis mellifera)

A hybrid subspecies of European and African honeybees that is aggressive and disperses rapidly across the Americas at rates near $400\,\text{km/yr}$.