Chapter 55 Flashcards
r-strategist
species whose life history strategy allows for a high intrinsic rate of population increase
life table
for group of equal-ages individuals, table showing the proportion still alive at different times in the future and the number of offspring they produce during each time interval
corridor
connection between habitat patches through which organisms can disperse; plays a critical role in maintaining subpopulations
logistic growth
growth that slows steadily as entity approaches max. size; especially size of organism or # of organisms in population
rescue effect
process by which individuals moving between subpopulations of metapopulation may prevent declining subpopulations from becoming extinct
dispersion
dist’n of individuals in space w/in a population
demography
study of population structure and of the processes by which it changes
population dynamics
patterns and processes of change in populations
intrinsic rate of increase (r)
rate t which population can grow when its density is low and environmental conditions are highly favorable
population
group of organisms coexisting at same time and in same place; capable of interbreeding with one another
habitat patch
area of a particular habitat surrounded by other habitat types that may be less suitable for that organism
fecundity
avg. # of offspring produced by each female
age structure
dist’n of individuals in population across all age groups
life history strategy
way in which organism partitions its time and energy among growth, maintenance, & reproduction
carrying capacity
of individuals in a population that the resources of its environment can support
K-strategist
species whose life history strategy allows it to persist at or near the carrying capacity of its environment
exponential growth
growth which is geometric fcn of size of the gowing entity: the larger the entity, the faster it grows (esp. in # of organisms in a population)
semelparous
reproducing only once in a lifetime
metapopulation
population divided into subpopulations, among which there are occasional exchanges of individuals
mark-recapture method
method of estimating population sizes of mobile organisms by capturing, marking, & releasing a sample of individuals, then capturing another sample at a later time
cohort
group of similar-aged organisms
density-independent
pertaining to a factor w/ an effect on population size that acts independently of population density
population density
of individuals of a population per unit area or volume
iteroparous
reproducing multiple times in a lifetime
density-dependent
pertaining to a factor w/ an effect on population size that increases in proportion to population density
survivorship
proportion of individuals in a cohort that are alive at age ‘x’ in life tables. a graph of this data is a survivorship curve
