LECTURE 8

ECOLOGY OF POPULATIONS
Population Properties
 INTRODUCTION
• Population – a collection of organisms of
the same species occupying a particular
space at a particular time. The ultimate
constituents of the population are
individual organisms that can potentially
__________.
e.g. Deer population
Narra trees in a forest
 INTRODUCTION
• Population Properties – statistical
measures that cannot be applied to
individuals such as density, dispersion,
natality, mortality, dispersal, age structure
and sex ratio.
- interpreted to be
the summation of individual properties or
characteristics
1. POPULATION DENSITY
Abundance – number of individuals in a given
area
Density – number of individuals expressed per
unit area or volume.
e.g. There are 100 birds in a 2.5 ha of land
Abundance = 100 birds
Density = 100/2.5 = 40 birds/hectare

- number of trees per acre of land

- number of humans per square km
- number of diatoms per cu m of water
2. DISPERSION
- how individuals are distributed in
space
- random, uniform, clumped
• Random Dispersion
(a) the environment is uniform
(b) resources equally available through the
years
(c) no patterns of attraction or avoidance
• Uniform Dispersion
(a) more even spacing than would occur by chance
(b) Autotoxicity

• Clumped Dispersion
(a) due to habitat differences
(b) reproductive patterns and social behaviors
3. Natality
- production of new individuals in a population
through birth, germination, hatching, budding or
fission.
e.g. bacteria by cell division
plants by production of seeds
animals by production of offspring

Birth rate – number of individuals born per

1000 individuals per year.
e.g. a popn of 2000 individuals produced
20 offspring per year
BR = 10 per thousand
per year

Most organisms produce many offspring than are needed to replace

themselves.
 Related Terms:
• FERTILITY – a physiological term which
refers to the ability of the organism to
breed and to produce offspring.

• FECUNDITY – an ecological term which

grades an organism based on the number
of offspring it can produce in a given
period of time.
4. Mortality
- loss of individuals in a population as a result of
death.
e.g. seed mortality is very high
immature animals die before they
have the chance to reproduce
Death Rate – number of people who died
per 1000 individuals per year

“For population to grow, BR>DR”

SURVIVORSHIP CURVE
- graphical representation of death schedules

I – heavy mortality at the ___ of

the species life span.
e.g. humans, sheeps,
mammals, and some plants

II – constant age-specific mortality

rate; constant exponential decrease
in the population with time
e.g. hydras, rodents, birds
perennial plants

III – high mortality rates in early life

e.g. oysters, fishes, invertebrates
5. AGE STRUCTURE
• - refers to the relative proportion of individuals
belonging to different age classes in a population.

Ecological Ages (Bodenheimer, 1939)

1. Prereproductive Age (1-14)
2. Reproductive Age (15-54)
3. Postreproductive Age (55- )

e.g. insects (long pre, short rep and no post)

Significance of Age Distribution
• (1) influences both natality and mortality
• (2) determines the current reproductive
status of the population and indicates
what may be expected in the ______
• (3) helps global agencies and government
future population trends and needs
 Age Pyramid
• Is constructed by getting the % of
population at different age classes. The %
is reflected on the lengths of horizontal
bars.
 Types of Age Pyramid
Expanding Declining
Population Population
Stable Population
(Kenya, Nigeria, (Sweden, Norway,
Mexico, Philippines) (USA, UK) Germany, Italy)
6. SEX RATIO
• Compares the number of male members
to the number of female members in the
population.

S.R. = number of males x 100

number of females

e.g. 1995 SR for Philippines

SR = 34,584,170 x 100 = 101.62
34,032, 300
2003 Census (PHILIPPINES)
Total Population (84,619,974)
Sex Ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
7. DEPENDENCY RATIO
• Relates the size of the dependent segment
of the population to the economically
productive segment of the population
(applicable for human population)

Dependency Ratio – 0-14 yrs old + 60 yrs and over x 100

15 -64 yrs old
 8. DISPERSAL (MIGRATION)
• The mass directional movement of large
numbers of individuals of a population from
one location to another
Immigration – migration into a population
Emigration – movement out of a population

Net Migration Rate = I - E

Why migrate?
1. Food
2. Space
3. Competition
4. Seasonal changes

Effects of migration
1. Population Size
2. Age Distribution
3. Genetic Pool
End of Lecture