Population Characteristics and Growth Rate
What describes the area inhabited by a population?
Geographic Distribution or range.
What drove exponential growth in the human population in the 1800s?
Increases in food production and improvements in hygiene.
What is the difference between habitat and niche?
Habitat is where an organism lives, while niche is an organism’s total way of life
What is weather?
Day to day events
What type of growth occurs when resources become less available?
Logistical growth.
What is the term for the number of individuals per unit area?
Population Density.
What is demography?
The study of the characteristics of populations, especially human populations.
What are abiotic factors?
Non-living parts
What is climate?
Long term study of weather patterns
What is carrying capacity?
The largest number of individuals that a given environment can support.
What impacts growth rate?
Immigration, Emigration, Birth rate, death rate
How do declining death rates affect population growth?
They lead to a dramatic increase in the human population.
What are biotic factors?
Living parts
Less trees equals more carbon dioxide which leads to increased temperatures.
What is exponential growth?
Exponential growth occurs when individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate.
What are the three different types of population distribution?
Clumped, Random, Uniform
What role do educated women play in birth rates?
They tend to have fewer children, as they learn family planning techniques and contribute economically.
What are the levels of organization in ecology?
Organism, population, biological community, ecosystem, and biosphere.
What is the greenhouse effect?
Layer of gas around the earth that regulates temperature.
What are density-dependent factors?
Factors that only affect the population when the population density reaches a high level, such as competition and predation.