P O P U L A T I O N

Ecology of
Population and
Communities
 Learning Objectives:

At the end of the topic, the students will be able

to:
1. Define population and the properties of a population;
2. Know the main types of population distribution;
3. Deduce the factors that produce population change;
4. Define environmental resistance and its role; and
5. Distinguish the effect of density dependent limiting
factors and independent limiting factors.
Introduction

No individual organism can exist alone. For survival and reproduction it has to
interact with other of its own kind living somewhere in the same area. In doing
so, it became the part of the population. A population is a collective group of
organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time.
Interactions among the member of a population are evident. They hunt, build
nest, mate, and rear young, compete for food, space and amities when those
resources are in short supply.
 01
Organism and
02
Characteristics of
Population Population
Describe the topic of Size
the section Density
Distribution

03 04
Limiting Factors of
Population Growth
Population
Describe the topic of Describe the topic of
the section the section
O R G A N I S M
01
Organism and
Population
 Organism and Population

● We are always part of a population and human population is affected by both biotic and
abiotic factors. The use of resources and the environment affects the size of the population
● This is to understand the difference between organism and population. Population is the
major unit of ecological study for scientists while An organism is a single, living
individual, either plant or animal.
● By definition,a population is a group of similar species living in a certain place at the same
time. It is the interaction between the organisms that cause a population to change
● Population exhibits certain unique attributes. They have density, age distribution and
biotic potential. They exhibit birthrate, death rate, growth form and dispersionVenus.
S I Z E
Characteristics of Population

pertains to the number of - is the number of individual

individuals in a population per unit of space.
Size DENSITY

population density shows how many individuals exist in a particular place

while distribution tells us how these individuals are located in that
area.

DISTRIBUTION
 SIZE
The size of a population can be stated as:

Kind Place Example:

what species – time – where located – number KIND: Homo sapiens
what date/month/year – how many PLACE: Philippines
TIME: March,2023
NUMBER:
Factors that contribute to the size of a population

pertains to the number of - is the number of individual

individuals in a population per unit of space.
Natality Mortality

population density shows how many – the number of species

individuals exist in a particular place
while distribution tells us how these that leave the land
individuals are located in that area.

Immigration Emigration
 NATALITY OR BIRTHRATE

Natality – is the greatest factor that influences population increase. It is the inherent
ability of population to increase. The number of offsprings produced per female per unit
time
Maximum Natality (Absolute or Potential or Physiological Natality)– is the absolute
or theoretical maximum production of new individual under ideal condition.
Ecological Natality (Fertility Rate) – is the population increase under actual or
environmental condition.

Big numbers catch your audience’s attention

Where:
N = initial number of organisms
n = new individuals in the population
T = time
 MORTALITY OR DEATHRATE

-is usually expressed as the probability of dying. The number of deaths occurring
in a given period (death per time)

Minimum Mortality Ecological Mortality

-is the loss of the individual
under ideal condition. It is the
theoretical minimum loss under
ideal condition. It is constant
for a population.
(Realized mortality
is the loss of individual under
given environmental condition.
It is not constant but varies with
time.
 VITAL INDEX –
the birth to death ratio for a population (birth / death x 100)

Highly
Highly convex concave
Diagonal curves
curve curves
the curve approaches a straight line due to more
– here, the population – mortality rate is high or less constant age-specific survivability.
mortality is low until the Constant proportion of organism dying per unit
during the young stages time. No population has constant age-specific
end of the life span (Ex. (Ex. Oyster, shellfish) survival rate. Undergo metamorphosis.
Deer, man)
 1. DENSITY
is the number of individual per unit of space. Individuals are affected by density.
Trees in crowded areas may die because of lack of water, nutrients and light.
Some birds may be denied access to nest site due to limited space. Density could
also affect the spread of diseases, parasites and death.

Types of Density

Crude Density Specific or Ecological Density

is the number of biomass per is the number or biomass per
unit total space. unit of habitat space that can
actually be used by the
population.

The population density increases when the factors (space, food, predators, light, water and
heat) are favorable to the population and decreases when they are unfavorable. Population
density may vary from year to year and is determined by external factors.
 DISTRIBUTION –
population density shows how many individuals exist in a particular place
while distribution tells us how these individuals are located in that area.

Random distribution
– there is no specific order in random
distribution, the organism is spread
throughout the are without an over-all
pattern
DISTRIBUTION Uniform Distribution

Mercury is the closest – the organisms are

planet to the Sun evenly distributed over
an area.
Clumped Distribution

the organisms are

concentrated in an area.
It may offer the
population protection
from enemies.
Population Growth
There are two factors whenever a
population grows, declines or remains
constant.

The important factors are the natality

rate, the rate at which organisms
reproduce, or migrate, the rate of arrival
of organism

mortality rate at which organisms die or

emigration, the rate of departure.
However, immigration and emigration
make a substantial contribution to
population growth.
 Survivorship and Mortality

The growth of a population depends upon the balance

of mortality (death rate) and natality (birthrate) – its rate
of decrease or increase depending on the number of
individuals that survive. Mortality is the inverse of
biotic potential; that is, mortality rate opposes birth rate.
B A L A N C E
 Biotic Potential
The biotic potential of an organism is the number of offspring that could
theoretically exist if all offsprings survived and produced young. It depends
not only on the number of offsprings produced at a time, but also upon how
frequently they are produced, and how long the reproductive life of the
organism may be.

Biotic potential is the ability of a population of living species to increase

under ideal environmental conditions – sufficient food supply, no predators,
and a lack of disease. An organism’s rate of reproduction and the size of each
litter are the primary determining factors for biotic potential.
Significant differences in biotic potential exist between species – many large
mammals, like humans or elephants, will only produce one offspring per
year and some small organisms, like insects, will produce thousands of
offspring per year. Organisms do not tend to fulfill their biotic potential
because most species do not live under ideal environmental conditions. At
some point, population growth will be hindered by predators, disease,
changes in environment, a lack of available food, or a combination of these
factors
Humans have a lower biotic potential than most other organisms and yet,
human population continues to grow steadily. We have mechanisms for
preventing and treating diseases, the ability to grow and produce food, and
humans lack natural predators. There are currently over 7.3 billion humans on
Earth, but will the human population be able to continue to grow indefinitely?
Does the Earth have enough land space, food supply, and water for, say, 20
billion people?
The maximum number of a given species that can be sustained by resources
in a given environment is the species’ carrying capacity, a concept often
discussed alongside biotic potential. When a population is nearing its carrying
capacity, the amount of resources used is equal to the amount of resources
being produced. It is at this time individuals start competing; some may die
and others may not reproduce because of the lack of resources. Conditions are
no longer ideal and as a result, these individuals cannot reach their full biotic
potential.
 Age Distribution
-Age distribution influences both natality and mortality
. Population can be divided into three ecological periods
according to Bodemheimer

pre-reproductive (juvenile period reproductive post-reproductive

TO BE SEARCH AND TO BE SEARCH AND TO BE SEARCH AND

GIVE EXAMPLES GIVE EXAMPLES GIVE EXAMPLES
AND AND AND
EXPLANATIONS EXPLANATIONS EXPLANATIONS
 The proportion of different age groups in any population is usually expressed
geometrically as pyramids shown below.

Broad-based pyramid
– Birth rate of the young population is high, Urn-shaped – dying off
Bell-shaped pyramid –
growth is rapid and it may be exponential. population. If birth rate decreases
moderate proportion of young to
High percentage of young individual. Each pre-reproductive group decreases,
old. Pre-reproductive =
successive generation is higher in number than correspondingly other two groups
reproductive > post-reproductive
the previous one. also decreases. There is low
percentage of young people.
P Y R A M I D
 Age
Pyramid

Population pyramids are graphical representations of the age and sex of a

population
population pyramids are also referred to as age-sex pyramids

We refer to these graphs as pyramids because they are usually shaped like
triangles, though as we will see shortly, population pyramids also take other
shapes.
Population pyramids usually have males on the left side and females on the right.
There is also a vertical line in the middle of the graph that separates the males
from the females.
 Types of Population Pyramid
There are three types of population pyramids: expansive, constrictive, and
stationary.

Expansive population pyramids Constrictive population Stationary population

depict populations that have a
larger percentage of people in
younger age groups. Populations
with this shape usually have high
fertility rates with lower life
expectancies. Many third world
countries have expansive
population pyramids.
pyramids
-are named so because they are
constricted at the bottom. There
is a lower percentage of younger
people. Constrictive population
pyramids show declining birth
rates, since each succeeding age
group is getting smaller and
smaller. The United States has a
constrictive population pyramid.
pyramids are those that
show a somewhat equal
proportion of the
population in each age
group. There is not a
decrease or increase in
population; it is stable.
Austria has a stationary
population pyramid.
 Environmental Resistance
Environmental resistance is the collection of factors that reduces the growth rate of
a population
It is the result of an increase in mortality and decrease in natality. Both mortality
and natality have causes
Most causes appear to be environmental, termed as environmental
resistance

Such environmental resistance results from:

• resource shortage, water or food
• from disease, predation or competition among organisms
 A population density could result in a shortage of living
area and resources. The size of a population depends on a
number of factors that differ for different population. If any
of these essential factors is in short supply, even though all
other factors are present, the growth of the population is not
possible. Limiting factors determine whether or not a
population can grow in a given environment
E N V I R O N M E N T
 Carrying capacity

--defined as the number of individuals in a particular population that the

environment can support over an indefinite period of time in terms of
food, space and shelter. The interaction of the environmental resistance
and biotic potential tends to hold most population at a fairly stable level
than the carrying capacity of the area.
 D. Limiting Factors of Population
Another factor that influences population growth is density dependence or
density-independent factor.

Density Dependent Limiting Factor Density Independent Factors

Biotic factors are usually dependent on the
These are factors that influence all
density of the population, the effect of
population, regardless of their density. They
competition, predators, disease, availability of
include changes in the weather, temperature,
pace and food. They help to determine the
daily and seasonal variations of sunlight. The
carrying capacity of an ecosystem for a
amount of available of available air , water
particular organism. These factors are directly
and soil condition and the slope of the
associated with living things.
environment are abiotic factors that are not
directly associated with living things