Laboratory 3 _ Competition in Osprey, Fish, and , Barnacles: Limits to Population Growth ogisheo_ Natural populations usualy do not grow exponentially because various features of their environment limit them. Limitations, whether they are competition over food; nesting sites, or other factors, influence the dynamics of a population. In this laboratory you will learn about density dependence: what the causes are, how populations respond wo i, and what effect it has on the shape of a population growth curve. 3132 Laboratory 3 Introduction. All populations have the capacity for exponential growth in an unlimited environment. Homes, because environments are not unlimited, populations eannot continue to inetence indefinitely (Begon et al. 1996). As a population increases) resources are used up faster than they are replaced. Individuals within @ population must compete with each other for these limited resources. The habitat that a species occupies may become 50 svrreowded or degraded that” it can no longer support a population undergoing Cxponentil growth, Not only does crowding cause competition for resources, Dut an Gvererowded population may pollute the environment with its own wastes or amract predators or disease. ‘When various species are faced with overcrowding, their reactions may differ, but all reactions veslt in @ lowering of the growth rate (R). Recall that the growth rate of a population depends upon birth and’ immigration as well at death and emigration. A Pefocron in fecundity and immigration will lower the growth rate. A lower growth rate weir alko result from higher mortality or emigration, When death and emigration exactly compensate birth and irnmigration, the average growth rate of a population is 1. At this pole the population sice remains fry constant. The population generally stabilises a a density that the environment is able to support (ie. with enough food and shelter and not ‘too much competition and predation). This density is Known as the carrying capacity of the population (K ). Growth in a Limited Environment Because the factors leading 00 a growth rate-of 1 depend upon the changing density of individuals, they ate called density dependent factors (Akgakaya et al. 1999). The negative iefects on population growth will become more pronounced asthe density of individuals in f population increases, Densitydependent factory limit the growth of a population ia several ways. Dispersal 1f dispersal (emigration) is possible, surplus individuals may leave to look for ales populated area, For tnany animals the dispersal rate increases asthe densisy of individuals ror nces, Noe only will more individuals disperse with increased crowding, but higher percentage of the total population will disperse. lanes generally are not mobile, but individuals may disperse as sceds by wind, water, or even by animals. Frugivores, or fruit eaters, may be strongly attracted to areas ich high denaities of fruiting plants. The frugivores help to disperse seeds by eating che rit end chen depositing the seeds with ther feces after they leve the area. Although this dren wre thin che existing plants, proportionately fewer seedlings wil begin to grow around the parent plants, nd the seeds may be deposited where iti less crowded, Increased mortality Sometimes dispesal is not possible because 2 population is isolated by e barrier such ss & cevantain or siver, or a less crowded area is not available. Individuals that are not free co Tene such ae plants oF other nonmobile organisms, may be faced with a crowded tavigonment, When this occurs, resources become scarce and wastes accumulate causingConservation Biology with RAMAS Ecolab 33 the environment to become less favorable, Individuals competing for scarce resources such as food, water, sunlight, or nutrients may die. Because of the accumulated wastes and the frequent contact between individuals in a erowcled environment, parasites and diseases often spread quickly. ; In the same manner that an area with a lot of fruit will attract many frugivores, areas with high densities of prey will attract large numbers of predators. A population of predators may also grow when prey species are at high densities because more food is available, More predators will in turn cause the survival rate of the prey population to decrease. For all of these reasons, the mortality rate of a population often increases as the density of individuals increases. 7 Decreased reproduction ‘The number of offspring produced for many species depends on the available resources. As resources become scarce, individuals may reproduce less or even cease to reproduce altogether! For example,,the number of red squirrels born in a liter depends on the condition of the mother.’ If food is plentiful and the mother is able to store a lot of fat in her body, she will produce, on average, more young than during times when resources are scarce. Nonfood resources such as nesting or denning sites may also be important for reproduction. A female may not be able to raise her young if other individuals are using all available sites. “As densities increase, resources nécessary for reproduction become less available, and the average reproductive rate of each individual is likely to decline. ‘Types of Density Dependence : How a population responds to density dependent factors depends on the ecology of the species and on the resources that become limiting. For the rest of this discussion we will assume that individuals cannot migrate into ot out of the population. Scramble competition ‘As the size of a population increases due to the births of new individuals, resources ace used up. If these scarce resources are shared more or less equally among individuals, there vill not be enough resources for any one individual. Density dependent factors will affect all individuals equally. This type of competition is called seramble competition. Scramble competition usually occurs when an organism's limiting resource is dispersed evenly across a habitat, rather than in patches that are easy to defend, This leads to leads t6 equal sharing of resources because it is difficult for an individual or group of individuals to monopolize the resource when it becomes scarce. Consider competition for food améng newly hatched fish in a pond. If there are very few young, all of them will have enough food to survive. However, if the density of young is above the carrying capacity, all of the individuals will be smaller or weaker due to insufficient resources. At vety high densities, conditions for the whole population may be so, poor chat no individuals survive to reproduce. Grazers such as the rhinoceros provide another example of scramble competition. It is difficult for individuals to defend a field of grasses, so all thinos are affected by overgrazing when their densitics get very high.