Why is understanding the demography of species useful?
It allows us to predict future population growth and decline of species.
What is the difference between the exponential growth model and the geometric growth model?
A model of continuous exponential growth vs comparing population sizes at regular intervals
What are density-independent factors? Give two examples.
Factors that limit population size regardless of how dense the population is.
- floods
- tornados
- fires
- extreme temperatures
- droughts
What are density-dependant factors?
Factors limiting population size that are connected to the population's size.
What is positive density dependence? What are its other names?
Also called inverse density dependence or the Allee effect, the rate of population growth increases as population density increases.
What is negative density dependence? Give two examples.
As the rate of population growth decreases the population density increases.
- food
- space
- nesting sites
What is carrying capacity?
The maximum population size that can be supported by the environment.