Vocabulary:

• Population: Members of a single species that inhabit a defined geographical area. This area can vary greatly by the species

• Population size: The metric that measures the amount of individuals within a population

• Population density: The metric that measures how many individuals of a population live in a given unit of area

• Absolute abundance: The precise number of individuals in a given area, very specific and exact

• relative abundance: the number of individuals of a given species compared to the total number of individuals of all of the species in a given area

• Demography: The study of characteristics for a population, including size, density, age structure, fecundity, mortality, and sex ratios

• Age structure: Consists of the population of individuals of different age classes within a population, which is a reflection of several aspects of population dynamics, including the history of survival, reproduction, and the potential for future growth

• Fecundity: The potential ability of an organism to produce eggs or young, the rate of production of young by a female

• Niche space: Environmental factors that influence survival, growth, and reproduction of populations, not individuals. This is all of the available habitat and resources available where an organism lives, classified at the population level

• Fundamental niche: The environmental conditions under which a population or species lives in, in the absence of competition of other species. What would the population prefer

• Realized niche: The actual resources and environment that a species inhabits and utilizes, due to competition with other species. This may vary from population to population of the same species

• Population partitioning: The phenomenon of species choosing their realized niches, suitable habitats are often patchy

• Dispersal limitation: When various factors limit the range that a species can cover, and reach suitable habitats, due to unsuitable habitats being in the way

• Population dispersion: The scatter of individual organism within the population, can be a measure of density as compared to overall area

  • Random: Scattered

  • Regular: Typical distribution, no unevenness

  • Clumped: If they are social organism and live in smaller groups

• Density-independent effect: Something that controls a population’s size, determined by factors that operate regardless of population size, like weather or physical disruption. These limit energy uptake, which in turn determines range limits

• Density-dependent effect: Something that controls a population’s size, determined by factors that are influenced by a populations size. This is more effective when the population and it’s density are large

• Combining factors: Limit a population, influence both density and range. These include specialized/generalist habitat and food requirements, how tolerant a population is to a habitat

• Carrying capacity (K): The limit of the number of individuals in a population, determined by the number that the environment can support, no net increase of decrease, modeled by logistic functions. As a population approaches this, there is more immigration out, more competition for resources, and the accumulation of toxic waste. The risk of disease increased