Population ecology

Question 1

what is ecology?

Answer 1

the study of interactions among organisms and their environment

Question 2

what is population?

Answer 2

all the individuals of a species that live together

Question 3

what are the 3 key features of a population?

Answer 3

size
density
dispersion

Question 4

what is size?

Answer 4

the number of individuals in an area

Question 5

what is density?

Answer 5

the measurement of population per unit area

Question 6

what is dispersion?

Answer 6

the spread of population can be clustered, random and uniform

Question 7

what is biotic potential?

Answer 7

the natural reproductive potential of the species

Question 8

what is environmental resistance?

Answer 8

a term used in population ecology to explain mortality rates controlled by environmental factors that prevent survival

Question 9

what is a density independent environmental limiting factor ?

Answer 9

increase death rate whatever the population size

Question 10

what is a density dependent

Answer 10

food supply /disease will become more prevalent limiting growth as the population increases

Question 11

what has human population been like for the past 200 years?

Answer 11

been in a long phase of exponential growth for the past 200 years

Question 12

what is the optimum population?

Answer 12

ideal balance between population and resources

Question 13

what is overpopulation?

Answer 13

too many people in an area relative to the available resources

Question 14

what is underpopulation?

Answer 14

too few people to use resources efficiently for a given level of technology

Question 15

what is the biosphere?

Answer 15

the biological components of the Earth’s systems

Question 16

what is the carrying capacity?

Answer 16

the maximum population size that an area can sustain indefininetly

Question 17

what is the ecological footprint?

Answer 17

a measure of the demand placed by humans on Earth’s natural ecosystems

Question 18

what is an overshoot?

Answer 18

refers to a point when the population and its associated consumption resources exceeds the long term carrying capacity

Question 19

what is the total productivity bio-capacity?

Answer 19

all the food water and energu resources produced by the earths natural systems in order to sustain us

Question 20

carrying capacity-professor william rees

Answer 20

• flexible depending on average lifestyle
• varying levels of consumption of resources
• earth may support 10 bil at modest level of consumption but we will have a lower carrying capacity if we waste resources and live the life of HICS

Question 21

Rees calculation of carrying capacity

Answer 21

measure the total productivity bio capacity of earth by dividing it by total population

Question 22

implications of carrying capacity

Answer 22

-concept of carrying capacity introduces a limit to population growth

Question 23

implications of a growing ecological footprint

Answer 23

climate change 
more land used for settlement and industry
degradation of natural ecosystems 
increased threat of species extinction 
depletion of fish stocks 
overgrazing

Question 24

what is the case study used for population growth?

Answer 24

Easter island

Question 25

where did it all go wrong … Easter island

Answer 25

easter island is a reminder that there are finite limits on our environment

Question 26

as a global society…

Answer 26

if we continue to use the environment in an unsustainable way then we will have to learn to live differently and live with less