Chp. 53 Population Ecology Flashcards
What does population ecology explore?
Explores how biotic and abiotic factors influence density, distribution, size, and age structure of populations.
What is a population?
Group of individuals of a single species living in the same general area
What 2 things describe a population?
- Boundaries
- Size
What is density?
The number of individuals per unit area or volume
What is dispersion?
Pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries of the population
What are the 3 sampling techniques that can be used to determine population size?
- Extrapolation from small samples
- Index of population size (ex. number of nests)
- Mark-recapture method
What are the steps of using the Mark-recapture method?
- Scientists capture, tag, and release a random sample of individuals (s) in a population
- Marked individuals are given time to mix back into the population
- Scientists capture a second sample of individuals (n), and note how many of them are marked (x)
- Population size (N) is estimated by N = sn/x
What is immigration?
Influx of new individuals from other areas
What is emigration?
Movement of individuals out of a population
What two things add individuals to a population?
- births
2, immigration
What two things will remove individuals from a population?
- Death
- Emigration
What two things does clumped dispersion depend on?
- resource availability
- behavior
What happens in a clumped dispersion?
Individuals aggregate in patches
What are the 3 patterns of dispersion?
- Clumped
- Uniform
- Random
What is territoriality?
Defense of a bounded space against other individuals
What happens in a random dispersion?
The position of each individual is independent of other individuals
What happens in uniform dispersion?
Individuals are evenly distributed
What is demography?
Study of the vital statistics of a population and how they change over time
What is a life-table?
A graphic way of representing the data in a life table.
What is a cohort?
A group of individuals of the same age
What is a survivorship curve?
Age-specific summary of the survival pattern of a population
What is type 1 survivorship curve?
Low death rates during early and middle life and an increase in death rates among older age groups
What is type 2 survivorship curve?
A constant death rate over the organism’s life span
What is type 3 survivorship curve?
High death rates for the young and a lower death rate for survivors
What is a reproductive table/fertility schedule?
An age-specific summary of the reproductive rates in a population