Populations in Ecosystems- Variation in Population Size Flashcards

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1
Q

What is population size?

A

The total number of organisms of one species in a habitat

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2
Q

What is carrying capacity?

A

The maximum stable population size of a species that an ecosystem can support

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3
Q

What happens when abiotic conditions are ideal for a species?

A

Organisms can grow fast and reproduce successfully

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4
Q

What happens when abiotic conditions aren’t ideal for a species?

A

Organisms can’t grow as fast or reproduce as successfully

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5
Q

What is interspecific competition?

A

When organisms of a DIFFERENT species compete with each other for the same resources

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6
Q

What can interspecific competition mean?

A

Resources that are available to both populations are reduced which will mean that both populations will have less energy for growth and reproduction, so population sizes will be lower for both species

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7
Q

What is intraspecific competition?

A

When organisms of the SAME species compete with each other for the same resources

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8
Q

When does the population of a species increase?

A

When resources are plentiful

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9
Q

What happens as the population increases?

A

More organisms are competing for the same amount of space and food

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10
Q

When does the population begin to decline?

A

When resources become limited

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11
Q

What does a smaller population mean?

A

There’s less competition for space and food which is better for growth and reproduction so the population starts to grow again

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12
Q

What is predation?

A

Where an organism (the predator) kills and eats another organism (the prey)

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13
Q

How are the population sizes of predators and prey interlinked?

A

As the population of one changes, it causes the population of the other to change

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14
Q

What happens when the prey population increases?

A

There’s more food for predators, so the predator population grows

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15
Q

What happens when the predator population increases?

A

More prey is eaten so the prey population will decrease, and then there is less food for predators so predator population will begin to decrease

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16
Q

Why are predator-prey relationships usually complicated?

A

Because there are other factors involved