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Population Ecology. Characteristics of Populations. Population - individuals of a single species that simultaneously occupy the same general area using the same resources that have a high likelihood of interacting with one another.
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Characteristics of Populations • Population - individuals of a single species that simultaneously occupy the same general area using the same resources that have a high likelihood of interacting with one another. • Population density - number of individuals per unit area or volume.
Mark - Recapture Method • Device used to estimate population size through random field sampling of a population. • The Equation is as follows: • Number x Total catch • marked second time • N = • Number of Marked Recaptures
Age Structure • Relative number of individuals of each age in a population usually represented by age pyramids (fig. 52.23). • Humans - birth rate is highest among 20-year-old women • Humans - death rate is highest in first year and in old age
Survivorship Curves • A graphic way of representing some of the data in a life table. • Type I - low death rates during early and middle life then dropping steeply as death rates increase at older ages. (large mammals) • Type II - mortality is constant over the lifespan (hydra, annual plants, rodents…) • Type III - high death rates for young but slow for older individuals (crustaceans, insects…)
Density-Dependent Factors • Density - dependent factors intensify as populations increase by decreasing reproduction of increasing the death rate. • Establishes the carrying capacity of a population • nutrients, disease, territory, mates, water, shelter, crowding, density
Density-Independent Factors • Density- independent factors affect the same percentage of individuals regardless of population density. • Weather • Disasters • Climate