POPULATION

People live in groups in a well defined

geographical area, share or compete for
similar resources, potentially interbreed
and thus constitute a population.
Asexually reproducing individuals are
also generally considered a population for
the purpose of ecological studies.
Although an individual organism is the
one that has to cope with a changed
environment but is at the population level
that natural selection operates to evolve
the desired traits. Population ecology is
an important area of ecology because it

POPULATION ATTRIBUTES
1. Birth rate:

It refers to the production of new organisms in a population.

2. Death rate:
It is the decrease in a population by death of individuals.
3. Sex ratio:

An individual is either a male or a female but a population

has a sex ratio(e.g. 60 percent of the population are females and
40 percent males).
4. Population size:

The size of the population tells us a lot about its status in the habitat.

Whatever ecological processes we wish to investigate in a population, be it the outcome

of competition with another species, the impact of a predator or the effect of a pesticide
application, we always evaluate them in terms of any change in the population size.

Population size, more technically called population density (designed as N), need not
necessarily be measured in numbers only. Although total number is generally the most
appropriate measure of population density, it is in some cases either meaningless or
difficult to determine.

Population density is expressed as the total number of individuals present in

a unit area or volume at a specific given time.

 It is represented as, D = N/S

D = Population Density
N = Number of individuals of a species.
S = Unit of space (area at a particular time)
For Eg: In an area, if there are 200 Parthenium plants but only a

single huge banyan tree with a large canopy, stating that the
population density of banyan is low relative to that of Parthenium
amounts to underestimating the enormous role of the Banyan in that
community. In such cases, the per cent cover of biomass is a more
meaningful measure of the population size.
Total number is again not an easily adoptable measure if the

population is huge and counting is impossible or very timeconsuming.

For certain ecological investigations, there is no need to know the

absolute population densities; relative densities serve the purpose

equally well. For instance, the number of fish caught per trap is good
enough measure of its total population density in the lake.
We are mostly obliged to estimate population sizes indirectly,

without actually counting them or seeing them. The tiger census in

our national parks and tiger reserves is often based on pug marks
and fecal pellets.

4. Age distribution:
A population at any given time is composed of individuals of different
ages. If the age distribution per cent individuals of a given age or age
group is plotted for population, the resulting structure is called an age
pyramid .
For human population, the age pyramids generally show age
distribution of males and females In a combined diagram.
Three ages that are referred as ecological ages are
(i) pre-reproductive,
(ii) reproductive and
(iii) post-reproductive.
Depending on which age group is more prevalent in a population i.e the
growth status, the population could be expanding, stable, or declining.

POPULATION GROWTH
The size of a population for any species is not a static
parameter. It keeps changing in time, depending on various
factors including food availability, predation pressure and
adverse weather. In fact, it is these changes in population
density that give us some idea of what is happening to the
population whether it is flourishing or declining.
The density of a population in a given habitat during a given
period, fluctuates due to changes in four basic processes.
1. Natality refers to the number of births during a given period
in the population that are added to the initial density.
2. Mortality is the number of deaths in the population during a
given period.
3. Immigration is the number of individuals of the same
species that have come into the habitat from elsewhere
during the time period under consideration.
4. Emigration is the number of individuals of the population
who left the habitat and gone elsewhere during the time
period under consideration.

(I)

(B
)

(D
)
(E
)

If B + 1 > D + E , population density will

increase
So,
if N is the population
density at time t, then its
If B + 1 < D + E , population density will
decrease
density at time t + I is

POPULATION GROWTH MODELS

When the number of organisms in a

population are plotted against the

time, it produces the population
growth curve. The growth curve could
be J-shaped or S-shaped depending on
the environmental resistance.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OR JSHAPED CURVE:

When the factors of environmental resistance
do not exert any influence on the population. i.e
, there is plenty of food and much less number
of deaths due to infection or predation, the
population grows exponentially or at geometric
rate.
The growth curve takes the shape of
J.Initially the growth is slow as the animals are
few in number but then the population grows at
a rapid rate.
The rapid rate proceeds till
enough food is available and can soar towards
infinity.
Any species growing under unlimited resource
conditions can reach enormous population
densities in a short time.
The exponential growth can not be sustained
indefinitely
because
of
everchanging
environment and limited food and space.

 For example, many insect population show explosive

increase in number during the raining season, but as the
rainy season ends, their population decline drastically, and
disappear altogether at times.
If N is population size; t is time, r is intrinsive rate of
natural increase the, dN/dt = rate of change in population
size in a time period.
Hence, the J-shaped growth form is represented by dN/dt =
Rn
The integral form of the exponential growth equation as N1
= N0ert where
Nt = Population density after time t
NO = Population density at time zero
r = intrinsic rate of natural increase
e = the base of natural logarithms (2.71828)

LOGISTIC GROWTH CURVE

OR S- SHAPED CURVE

No population can continue to grow exponentially , as

the resource availability becomes limiting at certain
point of time.

A population showing logistic growth shows sigmoid

curve,when we plot N in relation to time; such a
growth is also called Verhaulst-Pearl Logistic Growth.

It is described by the equation,

dN/dt = rN(K N/K),where
N = Population density at time t
r = Intrinsic rate of natural increase
K = Carrying capacity

Sigmoid or S-shaped curve is a typical growth curve

characteristic of many species when introduced into a
new habitat. Initially the growth is slow, also called
lag phase as it takes time for the individuals to get
adapted. Then it leads into a rapid period of growth,
the log phase where the rate of growth is proportional
to the food available. It grows like this for quite some
time until the individuals become so numerous that
their further

 multiplication is checked by the factors of environmental

resistance. Now the population growth begins to decline until
the zero population growth is achieved. This is known as the
stationary phase when overall growth has ceased completely.
It signifies the maximum size of population that an
environment can carry or sustain. It is also referred as the
carrying capacity.
Carrying capacity. It is the maximum number of individuals
which an environment can support or sustain. It is represented
by a constant (K). The population tend to stabilize around the
carrying capacity.
This growth model is more realistic in nature because no
population can sustain exponential growth indefinately ,as there
will be competition for even the basic needs.