Airish Noreen A.

Ledda
BSA 2-2
PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM

1. POPULATION
 In biology, a population is all the organisms of the same group or species, which
live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of
interbreeding.[1][2] The area of a sexual population is the area where inter-
breeding is potentially possible between any pair within the area, and where the
probability of interbreeding is greater than the probability of cross-breeding with
individuals from other areas.[3]
 In sociology, population refers to a collection of humans. Demography is
a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations.
Population in simpler terms is the number of people in a city or town, region,
country or world; population is usually determined by a process called census (a
process of collecting, analyzing, compiling and publishing data).

2. DENSITY-DEPENDENT FACTOR
 The density of a population is simply how many organisms are living in a given
area. Density-dependent factors are factors where the effects on the size or
growth of a population vary with the density of the population itself. There are
several types of density-dependent factors, but they all have two things in
common: they influence the rates of births and deaths, and the effect increases
as population size increases.

 When the density of a population is low (few individuals in a given area), resources
are not limiting. There are plenty of resources for everyone. More individuals can
give birth, and fewer individuals will die. Overall, the population will grow in size
and become denser. When the density of a population is high (many individuals
in a given area), resources are more limited for each individual. Because of this,
more individuals will die, fewer individuals will be born, and the population size
will decrease and become less dense.

3. DENSITY-INDEPENDENT FACTOR
 Density independent factors, in ecology, refer to any influences on a population’s
birth or death rates, regardless of the population density. Density independent
factors are typically a physical factor of the environment, unrelated to the size of
the population in question. Density independent factors vary depending on the
population, but always affect the population the same regardless of its size.
There are many common density independent factors, such as temperature,
natural disasters, and the level of oxygen in the atmosphere. These factors apply
to all individuals in a population, regardless of the density.
 However, density independent factors are often confused density dependent
factors for a number of reasons. First, density independent factors for one
population of organisms is not the same for every organism on the planet. While
oxygen is a density independent factor for most oxygen breathing organisms, it
may be a density dependent factor for some. Image an obligate anaerobe
 bacteria, for instance. Oxygen is toxic to these organisms. As they grow in
density, the bacteria furthest from the nearest source of oxygen is protected. If
these bacteria where to grow thick, oxygen would not affect each bacteria, and
the effect on the death rate would be lessened. This would make oxygen a
density dependent factor for these particular bacteria.

4. GEOMETRIC POPULATION GROWTH

 Geometric growth refers to the situation where successive changes in a
population differ by a constant ratio (as distinct from a constant amount for
arithmetic change). If the constant of proportionality is negative, then the quantity
decreases over time, and is said to be undergoing exponential decay instead. In
the case of a discrete domain of definition with equal intervals, it is also called
geometric growth or geometric decay since the function values form a geometric
progression.

 The population model below can be manipulated to mathematically infer certain

properties of geometric populations. A population with a size that increases
geometrically is a population where generations of reproduction do not overlap.[8]
In each generation there is an effective population size denoted as Ne which
constitutes the number of individuals in the population that are able to reproduce
and will reproduce in any reproductive generation in concern.[9] In the population
model below it is assumed that N is the effective population size.

5. EXPONENTIAL POPULATION GROWTH

 When resources are unlimited, a population can experience exponential growth,
where its size increases at a greater and greater rate. In his theory of natural
selection, Charles Darwin was greatly influenced by the English clergyman
Thomas Malthus. Malthus published a book in 1798 stating that populations with
unlimited natural resources grow very rapidly, after which population growth
decreases as resources become depleted. This accelerating pattern of increasing
population size is called exponential growth.

 The best example of exponential growth is seen in bacteria. Bacteria are

prokaryotes that reproduce by prokaryotic fission. This division takes about an
hour for many bacterial species. If 1000 bacteria are placed in a large flask with
an unlimited supply of nutrients (so the nutrients will not become depleted), after
an hour there will be one round of division (with each organism dividing once),
resulting in 2000 organisms. In another hour, each of the 2000 organisms will
double, producing 4000; after the third hour, there should be 8000 bacteria in the
flask; and so on. The important concept of exponential growth is that the
population growth rate, the number of organisms added in each reproductive
generation, is accelerating; that is, it is increasing at a greater and greater rate.
After 1 day and 24 of these cycles, the population would have increased from
1000 to more than 16 billion. When the population size, N, is plotted over time, a
J-shaped growth curve is produced.

 Exponential population growth: When resources are unlimited, populations exhibit

exponential growth, resulting in a J-shaped curve. When resources are limited,
populations exhibit logistic growth. In logistic growth, population expansion
 decreases as resources become scarce. It levels off when the carrying capacity
of the environment is reached, resulting in an S-shaped curve.

6. SIGMOIDAL GROWTH CURVE

 S-shaped growth curve (sigmoid growth curve) A pattern of growth in which, in a new
environment, the population density of an organism increases slowly initially, in a
positive acceleration phase; then increases rapidly approaching an exponential
growth rate as in the J-shaped curve; but then declines in a negative acceleration
phase until at zero growth rate the population stabilizes. This slowing of the rate of
growth reflects increasing environmental resistance which becomes proportionately
more important at higher population densities. This type of population growth is
termed ‘density dependent’ since growth rate depends on the numbers present in the
population. The point of stabilization, or zero growth rate, is termed the ‘saturation
value’ (symbolized by K) or ‘carrying capacity’ of the environment for that organism.
K represents the point at which the upward curve begins to level, produced when
changing population numbers are plotted over time. It is usually summarized
mathematically by the logistic equation.

7. LOGISTIC POPULATION GROWTH

 The geometric or exponential growth of all populations is eventually curtailed by
food availability, competition for other resources, predation, disease, or some
other ecological factor. If growth is limited by resources such as food, the
exponential growth of the population begins to slow as competition for those
resources increases. The growth of the population eventually slows nearly to zero
as the population reaches the carrying capacity (K) for the environment. The result
is an S-shaped curve of population growth known as the logistic curve. It is
determined by the equation.

 carrying capacity; exponential versus logistic

population growth. In an ideal environment
(one that has no limiting factors) populations
grow at an exponential rate. The growth curve
of these populations is smooth and becomes
increasingly steep over time (left). However,
for all populations, exponential growth is
curtailed by factors such as limitations in food,
competition for other resources, or disease. As
competition increases and resources become
increasingly scarce, populations reach the
carrying capacity (K) of their environment,
causing their growth rate to slow nearly to
zero. This produces an S-shaped curve of
population growth known as the logistic curve
(right).