Populations

• Population distribution patterns include Unifrom, where individuals are evenly distributed and may be influenced by social interactions such as territoriality.
• Random distribution is when the position of each individual is independent of other individuals.
• Clumped distribution is when individuals aggregate in patches and can be influenced by resource availability and behaviour.
• Populations use quantitative measurements to study, predict and describe populations, which are measured or presented numerically and reveal change in populations and communities over time.
• Protective Colouration: allows species to hide themselves from predators and they can avoid predation by not being noticed.
• Mimicry: when species resemble another plant or animal species to deter predators.
• Body colouration: when species evolved dramatic colours as warning signals to predators. Ex. bright red frog is poisonous
• Transect sampling is a technique that involves measuring the length of a long rectangular area or line and counting the species being monitored, useful when the density is low or when organisms are very large.
• Quadrant sampling involves choosing several quadrants randomly, useful for stationary organisms like plants or very dense populations.
• Mark and recapture involves temporarily trapping, marking with a tag or transmitter, and then releasing animals, useful for highly mobile populations, such as fish or birds.
• Density independent or abiotic factors (non-living) cause a population to stop growing or crash long before the carrying capacity is reached, examples include heat waves, fires, floods, droughts, tornados, ice storms and mudslides.
• Density dependent or biotic factors (living) slows a population growth as the population nears its carrying capacity, examples include immigration and emigration, levels, waste accumulation, spread of disease and competition for resources.
• Exponential growth occurs when there are unlimited resources and no competition.
• Carrying capacity, also known as logistic growth, is the maximum population size that can be sustained in an environment for a long time.
• Survivorship refers to individuals that live to a given age.
• Insects and annual plants take advantage of environmental conditions such as food and sunlight.
• Mutualism is a relationship between two species in which each benefits, for example, pollination (bees receive nectar from plants and spread pollen).
• Predation is a species which feeds on another, the prey, for example, a lynx preying on a snowshoe hare.
• Commensalism is a relationship where one individual benefits and the other neither benefits nor is harmed, for example, a remora eating leftover food from the shark, the shark is not affected.
• Morphological defense mechanisms involve the shape or structure of an organism, for example, a chameleon blending in a tree by changing colour.
• Interspecific competition is when two separate species compete for the same resource, for example, a shrimp and hermit crab competing for algae.
• K-selection or type l survivorship is characterized by long life spans, low fecundity, high survival rates due to good parental care, and most individuals reaching sexual maturity.
• Intraspecfic competition is when same species compete for the same resources, for example, all the shrimp in the tide competing for algae.
• Chemical defense mechanisms involve chemicals that animals and plants have evolved to reduce predation. Ex. Skunks use there spray a noxious-smelling chemical as a self defence weapon
• Fecundity is the average number of young produced by a female in her life. R - selection or type lll survivorship.
• Parasitism is a relationship where one individual lives on/in and feeds on host organisms, harming the host organism.
• Insects and annual plants have short life spans and high fecundity, meaning many offspring are born.
• Mammals and birds are examples of species that exhibit k-selection or type l survivorship.
• Competition is when two individuals compete for the same resource, for example, cheetahs and lions feeding on the same antelope.
• Population size is represented of the number of individuals from the same species living in the same geographical area
• Population density is the Number of individuals that are added to the population and those that are removed
• Ecological footprint is something that is required for each person such as shelter, food, water and transportation
• Limiting factors are things like disease, predation and competition for limited resources and can reduce the amount if energy for reproduction
• The four factors that have increased human population is shelter, food, Medicine and storage
• An example of commensalism relationship is a whale and barncle as neither of them harm each other and are unaffected
• an example of predation is a lynx and snowshoe hare as the lynx hunt the snowshoe hares for food
• an example of mutualism is an ostrich and a gazelle as they do not bother each other and there is no beef
• an example of paratism is tapeworms inside the humans intestine takes nutrients that the human needs
• an example of competition is a hyena and a lion as they both compete for the same territory
• Biotic potential: maximum growth of the population under ideal conditions if resources were unlimited