population ecology Flashcards
population ecology
study of intraspecific interactions- how organisms interact with members of their own species in relation to the environment
intraspecific
within the same species
density
number of individuals per unit area
dispersion
pattern of spacing of individuals in the population
Measuring density
counting- individuals, nests, burrows, tracks, or scat
quadrant sampling- in several randomly selected plots and calculate average
mark-recapture/catch recapture- take sample from population, mark and release, take another sample and record ratio of marked to unmarked individuals
(1 catch x 2 catch total)/# of recaptures in 2 catch
Types of dispersion
clumped, uniform, random
Demography
studies statistics of populations and how they change over time
life tables
age specific summaries of the survival pattern of a population which tracks cohorts from life to death
survivorship curve
shows mortality- created from life tables
reproductive table
based on female cohorts producing offspring from birth to death
generation time
amount of time between the birth of an individual and the time of the birth of their progeny
exponential population growth
(r) members have access to abundant resources and reproduce without limits
ex. population introduced to new environment, after catastrophe, or in a lab
logistic population growth
(k) population with limited resources that causes a population to reach a plateau (carrying capacity-k)
realistic growth oscillates around k
inflection point
growth rate switches from positive to negative (middle of logistic curve)
Semelparity
single large reproductive effort
