Variation in population size and investigating populations Flashcards
What is a population?
All of the organisms of one species in a habitat
What is a community?
made up of all populations of different species in a habitat
What is population size?
The total number of organisms of one species in a habitat
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum stable population size of a species that an ecosystem can support
What happens when abiotic conditions aren’t ideal for a species?
Organisms cant grow as fast or reproduce as successfully
eg. if wrong temperature they will use a lot of energy trying to maintain it so less energy is used for growth
What is interspecific competition?
Organisms of different species compete with each other for the same resources
What are the effects of interspecific competition?
The amount of resources available for both populations are reduced
Population sizes for both species will be lowered
What happens if one species is better adapted than the other it is competing with?
The less well adapted species is likely to be out-competed and wont be able to survive alongside the better adapted species
What is intraspecific competition?
Organisms within the same species compete for the same resources
what can intraspecific competition cause?
A cyclic change in population size around the ecosystem’s carrying capacity, shrinks then grows then shrinks again etc
How does predation affect population size?
As prey population increases, theres more food for predators.
As the predator population increases, more prey is eaten so the prey population falls, meaning theres less food for predators and their population decreases and so on
