Pearl International STEM Academy and School

Academic Year 2020 – 2021

15.4 Changing populations pgs. 190,191

Prepared by: Miss. Ala’ Shehadeh
Vision: Encourages, empowers, and expects each student to become a responsible citizen in our local, national, and global society..
Mission: To provide a nurturing, collaborative community enabling every student to reach their highest potential. Our curriculum meets international standards for education and our extracurricular programs develop children's mental, physical and social skills. Together with parents and the community we have created an environment which ensures the success of all our
students.
 04
Objectives Practice questions

Understand how 03
plants and animal
biodiversity can be
conserved

Describe factors
affecting the sizes of
02
Explain why
populations biodiversity is
important

01
Population, community
and ecosystem
• A population is defined as a group of
organisms of one species, living in the
same area at the same time.
• A community is defined as all of the
populations of different species in an
ecosystem
• An ecosystem is defined as a unit
containing the community of
organisms and their environment,
interacting together.
Population size
growth slows
Due to lack of food,
disease or pollution
fast growth
due to rapid reproduction
and low death rate

rapid drop
because fewer offspring
are raised or more
animals die

slow growth
because there are very
few animals to breed
 All living organisms compete with each other for food, water
and living space

Factors
affecting Those which are the best adapted to their environments
generally increase their populations at the expense of those

population less well adapted

growth Population growth in most organisms is controlled by the

following three factors:
1. food supply
2. predation
3. disease
Factors affecting population
growth
• Food supply
Penguins eat squid and fish. If the numbers of squid or fish
fall, then not all penguins will get enough food. More
penguins are likely to die. The ones that survive may not be
able to have so many young.
• Predation
Penguins are killed by leopard seals and killer whales. If the
number of these predators increases, then more penguins
will be killed. Their population will fall.
• Disease
Some diseases can increase death rate and decrease
birthrate. For example in 2006, researchers in South Africa
notices that some penguins were losing their feathers. They
don’t know why this is, but they thought it ay be caused by a
pathogen (a disease-causing organism). Although the
feathers eventually regrow, penguins without feathers are
more likely to die.
 More people, more • Nothing has stopped the human population growing. We keep
changing our environment to help it support more people.
problems Scientists disagree about whether this can continue.

Scientists disagree
about our future
population

High prediction: growth could continue

Medium prediction: growth could stop
Low prediction: numbers could fall
More people, more
problems

• Nothing has stopped the human population growing. We keep changing

our environment to help it support more people. Scientists disagree
about whether this can continue.
• The size of a population increases when the number of births per year is
greater than the number of deaths per year.
• To avoid extinction we need to make sure we don’t run out of food and
try to prevent
Predators and prey

• All organisms in an ecosystem depend upon each

other. If the population of one organism rises or
falls, then this can affect the rest of the ecosystem.
• Often very small changes to ecosystems have large
consequences, which can be difficult to predict. This
means that all the organisms in an ecosystem are
dependent upon each other. We call
this interdependence.
• A simple food chain is:
grass → rabbit → fox
• If the foxes in the food chain above were killed, the
population of rabbits would increase because they
are no longer prey to the foxes. As a result the
amount of grass would decrease because the
increased population of rabbits would be eating it.
• How do predators improve the health
of prey populations?
1. They usually catch only the
oldest and weakest animals.
2. They stop prey numbers from
rising so high that they destroy
their environment.
• Why populations are more stable in
environments that have a greater
biodiversity, contains many different
species?
o Because if one of the prey
population disappears predators
can simply change their diet.
Questions pg.191
1. Suggest why the population of an animal species might suddenly increase.
The population of an animal species might suddenly increase if they move into a new
environment, where there is plenty of food and no predators.
2. List three things that could reduce the population of an animal species.
lack of food, disease, or pollution (or predators).
3. Many animals produce a lot of offspring, but their populations stay small. What stops their
numbers rising?
Populations stay small if their death rate the same as their birth rate.
4. All animals need food and water. What extra resources do human use?
Humans populations use energy and materials as well as food and water.
5. Explain what is meant by sustainable development.
Sustainable development provides everything humans need without damaging the
environment.
Questions pg.191
6. What does it mean if animals are interdependent?
Animals are interdependent if one animal affects the survival of the other, such as a predator
and its prey.
7. Explain why the numbers of caribou and wolves in the Arctic rise and fall in cycles.
The numbers of caribou and wolves in the Arctic rise and fall in cycles because the animals
are interdependent. Wolves eat caribou so the number of caribou drops. Then wolf numbers
drop too because they have less food – they starve or raise fewer offspring. This gives the
caribou a chance to breed and raise offspring. Then predator numbers increase and the cycle
begins again.
8. Explain why populations are more likely to stay the same size where there is more
biodiversity.
Populations are more likely to stay the same size where there is more biodiversity because
predators can eat several different prey species. If one disappears, they can eat something
else.