Population Ecology Flashcards
What is over population
Too many people to be supported by the Environment and it’s resources
What is optimum population
The ideal number of people for the environment and its resources
What is under population
Too little people to fully utilise the environment and its resources
What is the carrying capacity
The maximum population that can be supported in an environment without the environment being Severely degraded
If the carrying capacity is reached it can have effect each it can have effects on the population as resources aresources are no longer available to support the population this is thought to lead to increase in death rates and fall in birth rates until population numbers can be supported again for example famines due to lack of food causing death and Lower fertility rates (e.g. famines during to lack of food, causing deaths and lower fertility rates)
What is the ecological footprint?
A measurement of how kmuch of the Earth’s resources are used in relation to the Earth’s resources that are actually available. The earth day website describes it as :’how much biologically productive land and sea is used by a given population or activity, [comapred] to how much land and sea is available.
If an ecological footprint is larger than 1, consumption is larger than available resources on earth, which is clearly unsustainable
Example of positive feedback in the PRP
One of the positive feedback lips within the model is this relationship the loop continues to gcontinues to grow the population as more resources are required every time there is a demand
Negative feedback in the PRP
When the population increases more resources are needed to support the population This leads to more pollution being released because of resource extraction Fossil fuel combustion plastic use in turn of environment Degrades which affects natural resources (bees die due to pollution affecting crop yields) causing The population to decrease as it cannot be sustained with fewer resources
