HUMAN POPULATION CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Objectives and Questions:

Population Ecology
1. Define population ecology.
- population ecology The branch of biology that deals with the number of individuals
of a particular species found in an area and how and why those numbers increase
or decrease over time.
2. Explain the four factors that produce changes in population size.
3. Define biotic potential and carrying capacity.
- Biotic potential. The maximum rate at which a population could increase under
ideal conditions.
- Carrying capacity ( K ). The largest population a particular environment can
support sustainably (long term), if there are no changes in that environment
4. What is population ecology?
5. How do each of the following affect population size: birth rate, death rate, immigration,
and emigration?
6. How do biotic potential and/or carrying capacity produce the J-shaped and S-shaped
population growth curves?

Human Population Patters

7. Summarize the history of human population growth.
8. Identify Thomas Malthus, relate his ideas on human population growth, and explain why
he may or may not have been wrong.
9. Explain why it is impossible to precisely determine how many people Earth can support—
that is, Earth’s carrying capacity for humans.
10. How would you describe human population growth for the past 200 years?
11. Who was Thomas Malthus, and what were his views on human population growth?
12. When determining Earth’s carrying capacity for humans, why is it not enough to just
consider human numbers?

Demographics of Countries
13. Define demographics and describe the demographic transition.
14. Explain how highly developed and developing countries differ in population characteristics
such as infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, replacement-level fertility, and age structure.
15. What is the demographic transition?
16. What is infant mortality rate?
17. How does infant mortality rate vary in highly developed and developing countries?

Stabilizing World Population

18. Relate total fertility rates to each of the following: cultural values, social and economic
status of women, availability of family planning services, and government policies.
19. Explain the link between education and total fertility rates.
 20. What is family planning?
21. What effect does family planning have on fertility rates?
22. What is the relationship between fertility rates and educational opportunities for women?

Population and Urbanization

23. Define urbanization and describe trends in the distribution of people in rural and urban
areas.
24. Describe some of the problems associated with rapid growth rates in large urban areas.
25. Explain how compact development makes a city more livable.
26. Which countries are the most urbanized? the least urbanized?
27. Which countries have the highest rates of urbanization today?
28. What are some of the problems caused by rapid urban growth in developing countries?
29. How does compact development affect city living?

Summary: