Chapters 8 and 9 Population Ecology and How to Apply It: The Human Population and its Impact CHAPTER 8

1. Describe the various types of population distribution patterns that can occur in nature and comment on which is most common and why. Most populations live in CLUMPS, the most frequent pattern of distribution in a population. Individuals are clustered together in groups in response to uneven distribution of resources, tendency of offspring to remain with parents, or some type of social order. Clumping also may be linked with defense (safety in numbers) or mating behavior. In plants, soil type, availability of water or the manner in which the plant reproduces may favor clumped distribution patterns. UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION (better access to scarce resources, when alone organisms dont have to share). RANDOM DISPERSION is the least common pattern of distribution found in populations. It usually occurs because members of a species do not frequently interact with one another or are not heavily influenced by the microenvironments within their habitat. Define birth rate, death rate, immigration, and emigration. Write an equation to mathematically describe the relationship between these rates and the rate of population change. Population change = (births + immigration) (deaths + emigration) Crude BIRTH RATE - annual number of births per 1,000 people in a population of a geographic area at the midpoint of a given year. Crude DEATH RATE annual number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population of a geographic area at the midpoint of a given year. IMMIGRATION arrival of individuals from outside the population EMIGRATION individuals leave the population Define limiting factor. Give an example of a resource that would be limiting in an ecosystem. LIMITING FACTOR factor that limits the growth, abundance or distribution of a population of a species such as a shortage of light, water, living space, or nutrients or exposure to too much competition, predation or diseases. Define exponential growth. EXPONENTIAL GROWTH growth that increases at a constant rate per unit time; starts slow and then accelerates like there are unlimited resources (intrinsic rate). Has a J shape Compare a J-shaped growth curve with a S-shaped growth curve and comment on the factors that produce the sigmoid (S-shaped) curve. J-SHAPED CURVE represents exponential growth which converts to the S-SHAPED CURVE as the population becomes larger and faces environmental resistance and reaches the carrying capacity where it fluctuates to give the sigmoid shape. The entire graph represents logistic growth. Define carrying capacity and explain what determines the carrying capacity of an ecosystem. CARRING CAPACITY (K) the maximum population of a species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the habitat. Determined by the biotic potential and environmental resistance. What type of species is the brown tree snake (last unit)? Use it as an example to explain why we try to keep out this type of species. It is an INVASIVE/NON-NATIVE species and we try to keep them out of areas where they do not originate so that they do not disrupt the ecosystem by causing native species to become extinct or endangered and cause problems for humans there. Explain density-dependent population controls and density-independent population controls. DENSITY-DEPENDENT CONTROLS limiting factors that will increase as density increases or decrease as population density decreases include competition, predation, parasitism and infectious disease. Helps to regulate populations size. Sometimes referred to as logistic growth.

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DENSITY-INDEPENDENT CONTROLS factors that are not dependent on the density of a population are mostly abiotic like a severe freeze at the wrong time of year, floods, hurricanes, fire, pollution and habitat destruction. Any of these circumstances may kill organisms regardless if there is one or many. 9. List the four general types of population fluctuations in nature. Indicate which of these is most common. STABLE population whose size fluctuates slightly above and below carrying capacity (rain forest with average temperature and rainfall). IRRUPTIVE population growth occasionally explodes or irrupts and then crashes (algae bloom and insects) linked to seasonal changes. CYCLIC- populations like lemmings whose populations rise and fall every 3-4 years or lynx and hare populations that rise and fall every 10 years in predicted cycles. IRREGULAR- populations that have no recurring pattern where fluctuations may occur because of catastrophy.

10 Discuss the relationships between predators and prey and the possible interactions upon each other. Several of the examples given in this chapter discuss how prey can regulate the number of predators in populations and how if predators exceed their carrying capacity, they may become extinct. When a population is regulated by predation, it is known as top-down regulation. The most important control of a population occurs as a result of the scarcity of some resources referred to as bottom-up regulation. 11 Define r-selected species and K-selected species and compare the two. Give an example for each type of species reproductive pattern. r-SELECTEDSPECIES few offspring will survive so these species have many, usually small, offspring and provide little or no parental care. They have a capacity for a high rate of population increase and are opportunists, doing well when conditions are favorable, but tend to exhibit boom-and-bust cycles in population growth. Examples are algae, bacteria, rodents, some plants, and most insects. K-SELECTED SPECIES Us! Competitors that reproduce later in life, have small number of offspring with longer life spans. Offspring usually develop inside their mothers, are born larger, mature slowly with much parental care. Usually follow the logistic growth curve. 12. Describe the three general types of survivorship curves (% of the members of a population surviving at different ages) in nature. LATE LOSS (TYPE I, K-strategists) organisms that live to an old age and experience low mortality throughout their lives such as elephants, rhinoceroses, and Us! EARLY LOSS (TYPE III, r-strategists) have many offspring that may die early such as oysters and dandelions. CONSTANT LOSS (TYPE II) members may have an intermediate survivorship like squirrels and corals. They have the same likelihood that they will die at 2, 20, or 40 years of age.

ANSWER THE 7 CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS ON PAGE 170 IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. Below are some suggested answers to the questions, however you may have slightly different answers based on your values. If you are not sure about your answer, ask me. 1. What difference would it make if the southern sea otter (Core Case Study, p. 161) became prematurely extinct because of human activities? What three things would you do to help prevent the premature extinction of this species? Sea otters are a keystone species in the kelp forests. They keep the sea urchin population down in addition to controlling other kelp eating species. The kelp provides habitat for many marine species, helps to prevent shore erosion, and is used in a variety of everyday products such as toothpaste. If the sea otters become extinct then the kelp dependent species would decline or even disappear, and the economic and ecological services that kelp forests provide would be lost or severely diminished. Three things that could be done to help the sea otter would be to keep them on the endangered species list; not allow them to be hunted for their fur, and do not allow commercial and recreational fishermen to harm them as they fear that the sea otters are in competition with them for fish and shell fish. Reintroduction of sea otters into areas where their numbers are low or declining would also be a wise move. 2. a. Why do biotic factors that regulate population growth tend to depend on population density b. Why do abiotic factors that regulate population tend to be independent of population density? (a) Density dependent population controls include competition for resources, predation, parasitism, and infectious diseases. These tend to be biotic factors, for example, the spread of disease through highly populated cities as in the case of outbreaks of the bubonic plague. The greater the number of individuals in the area, the more rapid the spread of the biotic organism that cause the disease which can lead to an epidemic. The number of potential hosts for the disease organism to infect is increased in areas of high population density. (b) Abiotic factors that kill or reduce the numbers in a population tend to be density independent. For example, it does not matter what the population of a species is if it is subject to the effects of a sudden freeze, flood, hurricane, or fire. Any number could be affected from a few to many. Such events are not governed by the number of individuals in a given population of an area, and are thus referred to as being density independent. 3. Explain why most species with a high capacity for population growth (high biotic potential) tend to have a small size (such as bacteria and flies) while those with a low capacity for population growth tend to be large (such as humans, elephants, and whales)? Different reproductive strategies exist in nature. Species with a high biotic potential are referred to as r-selected species or r-strategists and have many offspring that have little or no parental support. This results in a massive loss of offspring with few surviving to repeat the reproductive process. The offspring of such species tend to be small, for example, algae, bacteria, rodents, dandelions, and most insects. These species tend to be opportunists. On the other hand, species with lower biotic potential are referred to as K-selected species or K-strategists. The reproductive strategy of such species is such that they tend to reproduce later in life and have a small number of offspring with fairly long life spans. The offspring typically develop within the body of the mother and are born fairly large, mature slowly, and are cared for by one or both parents until the offspring reach reproductive age. This results in a few large, strong individuals that compete for resources and produce a few young at the beginning of each life cycle. Examples of such species are large mammals and long-lived plants such as those that exist in the tropical rain forest.

4. Why are pest species likely to be extreme r-selected species? Why are many endangered species likely to be extreme K-selected species? Pests are likely to be extreme r-selected species due to the following attributes: have many offspring, little parental care, early reproductive age, high population growth rate, generalist niche, can rapidly adapt to environmental changes, can withstand wide fluctuations in population, and have a lower ability to compete. Endangered species are likely to be K-selected species due to the following attributes: later reproduction age, large animals, adapted to stable environmental conditions, low population growth rate, specialist niche, high competition, and relatively few but large offspring. 5. Given current environmental conditions, if you had a choice, would you rather be an r-strategist or a Kstrategist? Explain your answer. Given the choice I would rather be an r-strategist. They are better able to withstand changes in the environmental conditions and thus survive long-term, whereas K-strategists take longer to adapt and are more susceptible to the threat of extinction. 6. List the type of survivorship curve you would expect given descriptions of the following organisms: a. This organism is an annual plant. It lives only 1 year. During that time, it sprouts, reaches maturity, produces many wind-dispersed seeds, and dies. b. This organism is a mammal. It reaches maturity after 10 years. It bears one young every 2 years. The parents and the rest of the herd protect the young. (a) This represents the early loss survivorship curve, which is the blue line in Figure 8-11. (b) This represents the late loss survivorship curve, which is the red line in Figure 8-11. 7. Explain why a simplified ecosystem such as a cornfield usually is much more vulnerable to harm from insects and plant diseases than a more complex, natural ecosystem such as a grassland. Does this mean that we should never convert a grassland to a cornfield? Explain. What restrictions, if any, would you put on such conversions? A cornfield does lack biodiversity as it contains only one type of plant, namely corn. Due to the high population density of the corn the field is highly susceptible to damage from diseases that attack corn. Also, insects that eat or feed on corn could undergo a population explosion and become a pest. The corn may not be host to the actual predators of the problem insect. A more complex ecosystem would contain more variety of species and would not be as susceptible to biotic factors that can affect high-density populations. More predator-prey relationships may be operative which can hold insect pest numbers at a manageable level. As the Earths population continues to grow at an exponential rate there is a need to convert more land into agricultural uses, such as growing corn, in order to meet the ever increasing demand for food. However, as areas are converted they should be maintained using best management practices (BMPs) to minimize soil degradation and utilize techniques such as strip cropping, contour farming, and no-till agriculture. In order to keep insect pests and disease-causing organisms under control, integrated pest management (IPM) techniques should also be employed in the location. Thus the restrictions would be to mandate BMPs and IPM. 8. In your own words, restate this chapters closing quotation by Sir Francis Bacon. Do you agree with this notion? Why or why not? Mother Nature has established her own rules for operating successfully. This is exemplified by the four principles of ecosystem sustainability and left to her own devices, nature will take care of itself. It will respond to any biotic or abiotic alteration as it has done for hundreds of thousands of years. I agree with the notion by Bacon. It is only when we humans do not follow the laws of nature do we witness the consequences of disrupting the natural ebb and flow that is governed by Mother Nature.

CHAPTER 9
13. Distinguish between replacement-level fertility and total fertility rate. Describe how total fertility rate affects population growth. List at least five factors that affect birth and fertility rates and five factors that affect death rate. REPLACEMENT-LEVEL FERTILITY the number of children a couple must have to replace the population of parents = 2.1 in developed countries/slightly higher in countries that have higher infant and childhood mortality. TOTAL FERTILITY RATE the average number of children each woman will have over her lifetime, should be 2 for a stable population to replace parents, but will cause a growing population if more and declining population if less offspring are born. Factors affecting birth/fertility rates: 1) Importance of children in the labor force 2) Cost of raising and educating children 3) Availability of private and public pension systems 4) Urbanization 5) Education/Employment opportunities for women 6) Infant mortality rate 7) Average age at marriage 8) Availability of legal abortions 9) Availability of birth control 10) Religion and cultural norms Factors affecting death rate: 1) Food supplies/distribution 2) Nutrition 3) Availability of health care/medicine 4) Sanitation/personal hygiene 5) Safe water availability 6) Occurrence of AIDS and other infectious disease 14. Summarize changes over time in the U.S. population growth rate.

Studies show teen pregnancy in the U.S. are higher (about 22% of women gave birth before age 20) than that of other industrialized countries. The reasons appear to be not using contraception and a higher proportion of adolescent women who are sexually active. As population grows in California so does the per capital rate of resource use and larger ecological footprint. More people requires more area for living, farm land is used for homes, more pollution, reduction in biodiversity, use renewable resources faster than they can be replenished, etc. 15. Define infant mortality rate. Explain why it is considered a good indicator of quality of life. INFANT MORTALITY RATE the number of babies out of every 1,000 born who die before their first birthday. It is a good indicator of nutrition, overall health care, medical advances, sanitation, and water conditions provided in that country. 16. Compare rates of population growth in developed countries and developing countries. Explain the differences you find. Characteristics of developed countries rate of population growth: death rates low because of better medical technologies and access, cleaner water, more food, etc. and birth rates higher because of low infant mortality and freedom of choice. Many developing countries have higher death rates for all the opposite reasons with high birth rates to compensate for high infant mortality. 17. Using population age structure diagrams, explain how the age structure of a country creates population growth momentum. Summarize problems associated with a baby boom and a declining population. The major determining factor in a countrys future population growth is the number of people under the age of 15 (pre-reproductive age). Problems created with a baby boom are that a particular population dominates the demands for goods and services, influence elections, legislation and economic demand, retirement may create a shortage of workers, and a strain on medical services. Problems with declining populations are that too few people to fill the labor force, fewer working taxpayers to fund public programs so may have to raise taxes to offset increasing public deficits, less entrepreneurship and new business formation, and less likely to develop new technologies.

18. Summarize key factors used to influence population size: immigration policy, (Currently, legal and illegal immigration account for about 44% of our countrys population growth. How many legal immigrants to allow and how to handle illegal immigration are controversial topics in California). family planning, (Studies indicate that family planning has helped drop the TFRs in developing countries by about 55%, but many people in developing countries dont have access to family planning which leads to unplanned pregnancies and more abortion) economic rewards and penalties ( Provide economic opportunities/jobs, better housing, education, etc. for those whose have less children) , empowering women, (Women tend to have fewer children if they are educated, have paying jobs outside the home, and do not have their human rights suppressed) . Summarize the current attitudes toward immigration policy in the United States. Mixed attitudes make it hard to develop policies. Arguments in favor of limiting immigration into the U.S. include that it would stabilize the population sooner and reduce our environmental impact. Arguments for generous immigration policies include that the U.S. has historically been the land of opportunity for the worlds poor, immigrants do work that Americans wont do, and that immigrants contribute to the economy and pay taxes. 19. List the four stages of the demographic transition. List social, biological, political, and economic issues that can be addressed to help developing countries undergo a demographic transition. List three factors that may limit the effectiveness of a demographic transition in influencing population size. 1) Preindustrial stage: little population growth due to harsh conditions (high birth and death rates) 2) Transitional stage: industrialization begins, more food production, health care improves, death rates down, birth rates high. Population grows 2.5-3% 3) Industrial stage: (developed countries) birth rate drops and approaches death rate as technological advances become widespread. Population growth continues at a slower fluctuating rate. 4) Postindustrial stage: birth rate declines, equaling the death rate = zero population growth. 42 countries, about 13% of the worlds population are in this stage with more developed countries expected to enter in the coming years. Developing countries can be helped by educating people, providing family planning and medical care, reducing poverty, and elevating the status of women. Three factors that many limit effectiveness of demographic transition in influencing population size are shortages of skilled workers, lack of financial capital, large debts to developed countries and drop in economic assistance from developed countries. 20. Compare and evaluate the population policies of India and China. India First national family planning education program in 1952, not successful because poor people believe they need many children to work and take care of them when they are old, preference of male children so keep trying until they get one and do not use birth control, each state has individual control to implement policy. One state offers cash, access to land, water wells, housing and subsidized loans to those who get sterilized after having 1 or 2 children. China Established the worlds most strict family planning control program discouraging premarital sex, encouraging people to marry at older age and rewarding couples who pledge to have only one child with more food, larger pensions, better housing, free healthcare, salary bonuses, free school, free birth control, and preferential employment opportunities. Preference for male children leads to more abortions. Summarize what we have learned from decades of trying to influence human population growth. We need to find a balance between human-altered communities and natural communities and slow down the rate we degrade nature for our purpose. List the major goals of the UN Conference on Population and Development. 1) Develop/implement national population policies 2) Provide family planning/health care/nutritious food 3) Reduce poverty 4) Education 5) Improve status of women 6) Increase involvement of men in child-rearing 7) Reduce patterns of unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. ANSWER CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS 4, 7, and 9 I provided answers to all for you to review. 1. Do you believe the population of (a) the world (Core Case Study, p. 171), (b) your own country and (c) the area where you live is too high? Explain. (a) The population of the world is too high. We do not know the carrying capacity for humans on the planet.

With all of the environmental degradation that is taking place and the overconsumption of many of the worlds resources, the population of the world is already too high. (b) The population of my own country of America is around 300 million. This is not a high population density when the size of the country is taken into account, but the majority of people tend to be located in highly populated areas which lead to overcrowding and congestion. Also, our relative percentage of the Earths population (<5%) is not proportional to our share of the worlds resource consumption. Our ecological footprint is excessive. So although we may not appear to be overcrowded overall, many would suggest that would appear to be rather greedy in our needs. (c) I live in the countryside where the population is spread out and the population density is fairly low. This means we have a less stressful lifestyle than some people who live in cities like Los Angeles and have to drive for many hours to and from work. I do not want any more people to move to my area as I like it as it is and do not want it to get built up. 2. Which of the three major environmental worldviews summarized on pp. 2223 do you believe underlie the two major positions on whether the world is overpopulated (Core Case Study, p. 171)? The planetary management worldview which sees no problem with the current population of the Earth, and the environmental wisdom worldview that is supported by the group that suggests introducing measures of population control. 3. Why is it rational for a poor couple in a developing country such as India to have four or five children? What changes might induce such a couple to consider their behavior irrational? It is rational for people living in places like India to have four or five children. This is because they are seen as part of the labor force and will provide old-age security for their parents as the parents age. Many live in rural areas and may not have easy access to doctors or family planning advisors. In some parts of India there is a high infant mortality rate which leads to the desire to have more children. Also, religion, cultural norms, traditions, beliefs and other factors may lead to avoiding birth control and to keep having children until one or more male children are born. There are a number of things that could help change this pattern including: education of women, free access to birth control, introducing government pension funds, improving health care to decrease infant mortality, and offering free vasectomies and tubal ligations. 4. Identify a major local environmental problem and describe the role population growth plays in this problem. Overfishing is a major environmental problem in our area. As the population increased and the demand for seafood as a means of providing a form of healthy protein to our diets also increased led to a non-sustainable situation. Many types of fish and shellfish are being harvested beyond the maximum sustainable yield. This has resulted in dwindling fish stocks and closure of some local fishing areas. This is also a problem in developing countries where coastal communities are often dependent on fish as a food source and revenue for the local economy. 5. Should everyone have the right to have as many children as they want? Explain. In a free democratic society people have certain inalienable rights in being able to make choices that affect many aspects of their lives. Many people would suggest that everyone has the right to have as many children as they want. However, in a free society people also have the right to have as few children as they want. Everyone should be able to have control over the choices they make and at the same time be provided with an education in a factual and unbiased way to make the best choices for themselves and the planet. The ultimate ideal would be to aspire to zero population growth with a fertility rate at replacement level, or in some cases below that. 6. Some people have proposed that the earth could solve its population problem by shipping people off to space colonies, each containing about 10,000 people. Assuming we could build such large-scale, self-sustaining space stations (a big assumption), how many people would we have to ship off each day to provide living spaces for the 79 million people added to the earths population this year? Assuming a space shuttle could carry 100 passengers, how many shuttles would have to be launched per day to offset the 79 million people added this

year? According to your calculations, determine whether this proposal is a logical solution to the earths population problem. This is a totally illogical suggestion as the solution to our overpopulation problem. It would mean that over 221,917 people (81 million/365) would have to be sent off to space on a daily basis. This works out to be around 2,164 space shuttle launches a day (79 million/365/100). This is far too costly a proposition even for the rocket scientists at NASA to consider, or anyone else for that matter to even give a millisecond of serious thought to. 7. Some people believe the most important goal is to sharply reduce the rate of population growth in developing countries. Others would reduce the high levels of resource consumption per person in developed countries. What is your view on this issue? Explain. It would need both things to occur simultaneously in order for the effects to be successful in the long term. People in developing countries need to sharply reduce their rate of population growth (maybe through education/access to family planning etc). Increasing numbers in developing countries will result in increased consumption of ever dwindling resources. At the same time people in the developed world need to take stock of their over consumptive lifestyles and make changes to help them combat affluenza and reduce their ecological footprint. People in developed countries cannot expect the developing countries to take action if they are not prepared to act themselves. 8. Do you agree with Chinas strict population control policy? If you disagree, what three things do you believe China should have done and should continue doing to help feed its people and support its rapid economic growth? Different methods will work in different countries. China decided to take drastic measures which have worked for them and is helping China to become a major economic player in the worlds financial trade markets. Other countries would introduce different strategies depending on the traditions and cultural practices that are acceptable to their society. 9. Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. List the three most important features of your population policy. Three important features of a population policy would be: education and empowerment of women; availability to free birth control methods, family planning, and neo-natal/post-natal care; and expanded job opportunities that would help alleviate and offset poverty.