Chapter 20: Population Ecology
- What is the definition of a population?
- What does a population ecologist study?
- What do population ecologists use as a predictive tool?
- What is demography?
- What four demographic factors that determine a population at a given time?
- Given original population size, births, death, immigration and emigration, be able to calculate the new population.
- What is a survivorship curve? What are the axes of a survivorship curve?
- What is the difference between a Type I, Type II, and Type III survivorship curve? Give examples of each.
- What is fecundity?
- How are fecundity and survivorship related?
- What does it mean by fitness trade-offs for the females of a species?
- Why do organisms have to allocate resources for fecundity and survivorship?
- Define growth rate. What is the equation for growth rate of a population?
- If the growth rate (r) is positive, what does that indicate about the population? Negative? Neutral?
- Define intrinsic rate of increase (ΔN). What is the equation for intrinsic rate of increase for a population?
- What conditions promote exponential growth of a population?
- What is a density independent population? Density dependent population?
- What conditions promote a scenario of density independence? Density dependence?
- Are humans currently experiencing density dependence or density independence?
- What is would an graph of exponential growth look like? What would a graph of logistic growth look like?
- What kind of graph is indicative of density independence? Density independence?
- What is the difference between r and K-selected species?
- What is a carrying capacity?
- What is the logistic growth equation?
- In a logistic growth graph, be able to identigy the r phase and K phase. In words, what is happening to the population during the r phase? K phase?
- Is density dependence usually biotically or abiotically controlled? Explain.
- How does carrying capacity vary?
- What is a metapopulation? How is it different from a population? How is it different than a community?
- What is the age structure of a population?
- How does age structure affect populations through time?
- Compare an age structure of a developed country and a developing country. How are the different? Why are the different?
- How is population momentum affecting the populations of developing nations?
- What are the major problems with the rapid expansion of the human population?
