Population Characteristics

OVERVIEW
Popuation And Individuals
Defining Ecology
Distribution
Abundance
Population Characteristics
Age Structure
Sex Ratio
Dispersal

POPULATIONS AND
INDIVIDUALS
Populations are local groups of
organisms, all of the same species, in
which organisms interact.

Modular Growth
growth by vegetative budding of new
individuals genetically identical to
the original individual.
Modular growth leads to two
different sorts of individuals: Genet
and Ramet
In animals, genetically identical
individuals are often called Clones.
In such cases, the total weight of the
species (its Biomass) is assessed.

Figure 8.6 Plants and Animals That Form Clones

DEFINING ECOLOGY
Operational definition of ecology is
the study of the distribution and
abundance of organisms
The first complication is the problem
of Spatial Scale (the size of area
examined)
Ex : Dispersal of the plant may
involve longer distances if birds eat
the fruit and fly from field to field
depositing seeds

Defining ecological communities

Distribution
Distribution is the spatial location
of organisms in a population.
There are two areas to consider in
describing distribution: the boundary
and patterns within the boundary.

1. Geographic Range
The outer limit of the location of members
of the population, the boundary beyond
which no members are located..
The boundary may be set by Edaphic
Conditions
physical factors like climate, soil type,
temperature, salinity, etc.
geography (a coast, a river, a mountain chain)
biological factors (competitors, presence of
disease, predators, etc.)

Spatial Pattern
the manner in which organisms are distributed
within the boundary of the population
Population Density is the average number of
organisms per unit area
The Average (or Mean) is calculated by totaling
all observations and dividing by the number of
observations.
Variance is calculated by subtracting the mean
from each observation to get the difference
,squaring each deviation and taking the total of the
deviations.

Organisms can be distributed within

an area in one of three ways:
Uniform - when organisms are distributed so
that there the distance between organisms
does not vary much so that all organisms are
about the average distance apart.
Random - neither clumped or uniform. In this
situation, there is no relationship between the
locations of individuals.
Clumped - ramets or genets occur as clumps
surrounded by areas where fewer than
expected organisms occur, like islands in a
lake.

Dispersion -How organisms are

distributed within their habitat; affects
measures of density:

Abundance
Abundance of organisms in a
population can be considered from
two perspectives
Total abundance is simply the size of
the population, whether you measure
it as organisms, ramets, genets, or
even biomass.
The book separates the two ways of
looking at abundance into Crude
Density and Ecological Density

Abundance
It is rarely possible to count or weigh all
members of a population, and so one needs to
take Samples in order to predict population
size.
The method of assessing population size
depends on the organism being studied
Sessile organisms are often sampled by using
Quadrat Sampling
An example of a statistical approach to abundance
of motile organisms is the use of the LincolnPeterson Index to estimate population size.

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS
We have seen that abundance is a
more complicated phenomenon
when examined in depth.
There are other characteristics of
populations to consider that are
related to abundance.

1. Age Structure
Age structure is the distribution of
members of the population according
to their age.
Different age structures can lead to
very different predictions about the fate
of a population.
One means of depicting age structure
is to make a horizontal histogram so
that the ages stack up from youngest
to oldest.

Age Structure

2. Sex Ratio
The ratio of males to females in a
population has great consequence.
Optimizing the sex ratio is a
complicated business and has lead to
an entire body of mathematical
theory, Sex Ratio Theory.

ANY QUESTION?