Vocabulary Basics
What term describes the number of organisms per unit area?
Population density
What type of growth occurs when resources are unlimited?
Exponential Growth
What keeps populations from increasing indefinitely?
Limiting factor
Which factor affects dispersion in most organisms?
Resource availability
How does human activity affect Earth’s carrying capacity?
It can increase it through technology and resources
What is the term for the pattern of spacing of individuals in an area?
Dispersion
When population growth slows due to limited resources, what type of growth occurs?
Logistic growth
A drought is what type of limiting factor?
Density- independent
Give an example of a population with clumped dispersion
Herd animals like elephants
How have medicine and agriculture influenced human population growth?
They reduced death rates and increased survival
Define emigration
Movement out of population
What happens when births equal deaths?
Zero Population Growth (ZPG)
Disease is an example of what type of limiting factor?
Density-dependent
What type of dispersion do territorial animals usually show?
Uniform dispersion
What social factor can influence population growth trends globally?
Women’s rights and access to education
Define immigration
Movement into a population
What does the “demographic transition” describe?
A shift from high to low birth and death rates
Name one biotic and one abiotic limiting factor.
Biotic: Predators; Abiotic: Temperature
How can predators influence population size?
By controlling prey numbers (density-dependent)
Why is monitoring population growth important for scientists?
To predict resource needs and prevent collapse
What is the term for the maximum number of individuals an environment can support?
Carrying Capacity
What is one real-world factor that helped humans increase their carrying capacity?
Advances in agriculture and medicine
Explain how limiting factors affect carrying capacity.
They determine how many individuals can be sustained by limiting resources and space
Explain how parasitism relates to population control.
It increases death rates, limiting population growth
What could happen if human population grows faster than resources can support?
Resource depletion, environmental damage, and conflict