NAME: Falixius Leslie

ID: 245075037

COURSE: BIOL349: General Ecology

LAB SESSION: Wednesday 8:00am – 11:00am

LAB INSTRUCTOR: Ms. Thomas

DATE: 18th November 2009

LAB #: 11

TITLE: Human Population Ecology

OBJECTIVE: 1. To report on the factors which affect human population.

2. To discuss the age distribution among different populations and the impact in

the population growth.

INTRODUCTION:

Human Population of a country is the number of individuals that are presently living in there

at a given time. There are many factors which affect this number. These factors are

quantified into different rates which are easier to observe and use for the predicting of future

populations. For instance, vehicular accidents, fatal diseases, murder, and age are all factors

which affect a population and can all be recorded as death and therefore measured as the

mortality rate. The mortality rate is the number of deaths per 1000 individuals per year .There

is other rates which are observed for the prediction of future human population. Birth rate is

the number of live births occurring per 1000 individuals of the population. Survival rate is an

indication of the percentage of people who are alive for a given period of time after diagnosis.

The fertility rate of a population is the number of live births occurring in a year per 1000 women of

child-bearing age (usually 15-44). These rates are observed so that measures can be put in
 place to either build the population or control it so that the country won’t become over

populated.

DISCUSSION:

Factors affecting Fertility and Birth rates

Fertility – is the ability of a woman to bring forth a live child. Women who cant are

considered infertile.

FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION

Factor affecting fertility rates include:

• Lack of proper nutrition due to poverty could result in a body fat percentage which is too

low to support the conception of a baby inside a woman’s uterus. Therefore women would be

deemed to be infertile. This infertility condition due to poor nutrition would lower the fertility

rate as these women are no longer expected to bring forth offspring to add to the population.

• Aging Population. Age is another factor which affects the ability of a woman capability to

conceive children. With the increase in age this ability sharply declines. In populations where

the demographics indicate that majority of the women in the population are already beyond

reproductive age predicts a low fertility rate for the years to come. The demographics which

indicate that most of the women population are in their reproductive age would have a higher

future fertility rate and in turn a higher population

• Prostitution due to poverty.

Two circumstances may result of prostitution. Women who are involved in these activities are

sometimes given drugs in order to prevent pregnancy and therefore keep the flow of revenue

to prostitute mangers in motion. This act would lower fertility rates. In some cases where

these kinds of drugs are not administered the prostitutes get pregnant and have babies
 consecutively to men who usually don’t father the child and continue prostituting as a source

of income.

• Morals

In countries where religious morals are strictly upheld there is less children born out of

marriage and this lowers the amount of unwanted pregnancies and possibly the amount of

children a woman would conceive in her lifetime. The same results are obtained if there is

family planning involved. Certain religious constitutions are against abortion and this

increases the chance of zygotes/fetuses formed through sexual intercourse developing into

mature newborns. This standpoint on abortion whether for or against affects the fertility and

birth rates either by increasing or decreasing them.

• Lack of or scarcity of Health care

This could affect the fertility rate both ways. Lack of health services in a country would cause

the fertility rate to increase as these organizations are usually the ones who instigate the sex

education materials and contraceptives to the public. If these services are absent, the rate of

pregnancies occurring would be high as individuals would have may lack knowledge of how

to prevent a pregnancy. The lack of health care and health services could also mean that if

there were to be any birth complications, the baby would not survive. This would also

decrease the fertility rate and increase infant mortality rates. Certain sterilization surgeries;

vasectomy and tubligation, which prevent fertilization from taking place during unprotected

sex, are not available to the population. This again causes population to spiral out of control

• Gender Discrimination
 In certain cultures there is a high occurrence of male dominance. This dominance begins to

affect the birth and fertility rates when some men refuse to use a condom during intercourse

and this could lead to a pregnancy which the male may insist that the woman keep or abort.

Some men may want more children than their partner and due to this dominance they get

their way.

• Family Planning

This method, when properly utilized can prevent populations from becoming over populated.

However when families do not plan there is the chance that they make a high number of

children.

Factors that affect the mortality rate are:

• The wealth and poverty of a country affects the mortality rate as only the persons who

can afford good health care are able to get services available. The persons who are unable

to afford these services would have a lower life expectancy and therefore when diagnosed

survive shorter afterwards. This also affects the survival rate.

• The availability and accessibility of medical centers. The harder these centers are to

reach the higher the possibilities of persons dying.

• Drug and crime prevalence usually lead to a number of murders, therefore the higher

their prevalence the higher the mortality rate and therefore the lower the population. This

effect on population is not observed if there is a natural increase. This occurs when the

numbers of births exceed the number of deaths.

Effects of age distribution on population growth among different populations

China

The majority of persons in china are middle aged. This predicts that the future

population will decrease as these middle age person become old and die.

India

The majority of persons in India are either just below reproductive age or at the early

reproductive part of their life. This kind of distribution is indicative of a future population

increase. When the infants grow up to reproductive age range they will begin to make

children of their own

Africa

The population of both north and sub-Saharan Africa show that majority of the

population are of a very young age. This shows that the present population will be of a

higher number in the future.

United States of America

The majority of the population extends over a wide age range, from infancy to post

reproductive age (45+). This indicate that there won’t be any increase or decrease in

population over time.

Iran

The population majority is below the reproductive age. Therefore there is a high

potential for the population number to increase in years to come.