Revision Notes

Class - 12 Biology
Chapter 13 - Organisms And Populations

ORGANISM AND ITS ENVIRONMENT

The branch of science that studied the relationship between the organism and the
environment is called ecology. Various levels of the organization are:
(i) Organism: each individual belonging to the species.
(ii) Population: The group of organisms that are capable of interbreeding.

(iii) Communities: A combination of different populations combine together to form

communities.
(iv) Biomes: a large number of flora and fauna found in a climatic zone.

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Major abiotic factor

1) The most important biotic factor that affects the environment, as well as
organisms, is the temperature. The temperature around the poles is lesser than the
temperature found around the equator. The temperature of the polar region ranges
from subzero and increases up to >500C in tropical deserts in summer. The
temperature will affect the metabolism rate and physiology of the body as it
affects enzyme kinetics. Those organisms that can tolerate a high range of
temperature are called eurythermal. E.g., dog, cat, red algae, etc while a large
number of organisms tolerate only a narrow range of temperature called
stenothermal. E.g., python, crocodile, penguin. The temperature tolerance of
organisms depends upon the type of geographical area they are found.
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2) The other important abiotic factor is water on which life depends. The area where
the amount of water is less are called deserts where only organisms that have
special adaptations will be able to survive. In the aquatic organism, the
composition and pH of the water are very important. The range of salinity for
some organisms is quite high called euryhaline, e.g., green crab and molly fish
while in some organisms the salinity level tolerance is very low called stenohaline
e.g., haddock, goldfish, etc. The organisms of seawater are found to be less
adaptive to the marine water and vice versa due to their different osmotic
environment.

3) The other important abiotic factor is light which is useful for the process of
photosynthesis and can be observed in the case of autotrophs. The main source of
light, well known, is the sun. The requirement of light intensity varies from
organism to organism as some organisms require high light intensity while some
organisms require low light intensity. There are various types of plants
categorized on the basis of the light intensity required, the short-day plants and
long-day plants. In animals, the small fluctuation of light will affect the various
plant activities that include migration, reproduction, and foraging. The quality of
the spectrum of solar radiation is quite important for life. The spectrum consists
of ultraviolet radiation which is very harmful to the organisms while the different
colors of the visible spectrums are not available for marine organisms found at
various depths of the oceans.

4) The other important abiotic factor affecting organisms and their population is soil.
The soil nature and features vary depending upon the type of climate, and the
process of weathering, the development of soil, transportation of soil, or whether
it is sedimentary. There are various parameters that affect the type of soil that are
pH, minerals present in the soil, and the topography. Apart from this, other
parameters such as pH, mineral composition, and topography depend upon the
type of vegetation and animals present.

Responses to Abiotic Factors

Various organisms respond differently towards various abiotic factors. The various
abiotic factor responses are:

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1) Regulators: They are those organisms that are capable of maintaining
homeostasis and regulation resulting in constant body temperature, osmotic
concentration, etc. This property can be observed in the case of the birds and
mammals along with few vertebrates and invertebrate species. In the case of
humans, the body temperature is maintained at 370C resulting in homeostasis. In
the summer season when the temperature is very high then the body sweats
profusely in order to maintain the body temperature which is similar to the process
of evaporation resulting in cooling. In the winter season, the outer temperature is
very low so the body saves continuously to maintain the inner body temperature
making it warm. In the case of plants, this mechanism of maintaining the internal
body temperature is absent.

2) Conformers: They are those organisms that are unable to regulate their body
temperature. Their body releases or absorbs heat that results in an increase or
decrease in body temperature resulting in the process of thermoregulation which
is an energetic process. In the case of small animals, the surface-to-volume ratio
is larger so the heat of the body can be released quickly, thus, the animals are
absent in the polar region. The process of evolution will result in various benefits.

3) Partial regulators: They are those species that are capable of regulation but only
up to a certain limit depending upon the environmental conditions. The organisms
simply undergo confirmation when they cross this limit.

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4) Migration: The movement of animals from one place to another depending upon
their requirements. For example, the migratory birds that come every winter from
Siberia to Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur) in Rajasthan due to the stressful
conditions in their habitat.

5) Spores: There are certain microorganisms that include bacteria, fungi, etc to stop
their growth during the unfavorable conditions of the environment. As in the
winter season, the animals undergo winter sleep called hibernation while in
summer they undergo summer sleep called aestivation.

Adaptations

The feature that helps the organism to survive or to reproduce in their habitats is
called adaptation. It is observed that the organisms usually adapt themselves
according to the environment they live in. For example, in the case of the desert
plants like Opuntia, they have thick cuticles, leaves modified into spines, and sunken
stomata so as to reduce the rate of transpiration and undergo photosynthesis with the
help of the CAM pathway. while in the case of the higher altitudes like mountains
and hills, humans have shown altitude sickness resulting in nausea, short breaths,
fatigue, heart palpitations, etc. But after some time they acclimatize themselves
according to the environment and results in the higher production of red blood cells
so that more oxygen can bind to them and increases the rate of respiration. There are
certain behavioral responses that can be observed in various animals based on the
environmental conditions.

Populations

Population attributes
The group of individuals that include those species that have the ability to interbreed
among themselves and results in the formation of the fertile offspring is called
population. There are various attributes of the population that include the birth rate
and the death rate. The increase in a population is called the birth rate while the death
rate is the decrease in population. The other population attribute is the sex ratio, age
distribution that can be represented as age pyramid which shows the status of the
population. The population in the age pyramid can be seen to be expanding, stable,
and declining. The expanding population is the feature of the population that is

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growing that includes more young individuals than the old individuals. The
condition in which both the young and the old individuals are equal then is called
stable while when the old individuals are more in comparison to the young
individuals then the age pyramid is said to be declining.

Population growth
The population size of any species in a particular region can never be static, it
changes over time depending upon the availability of the food resources, weather
conditions, and pressure of the predators. There are four main reasons that result in
the changes in the population density, they are:

(i) Natality: It is defined as the number of births in a given time.

(ii) Mortality: It is defined as the number of deaths in a given time.

(iii) Immigration: It is defined as the number of species of a population coming to

a different habitat for a particular time.

(iv) Emigration: It is the defined as the number of species of a population moving

out to N represents the population density which is given as:
N t +1 = N t + [(B + I) − (D + E)]

Where the population density is represented by N at time t, the birth rate is

represented by B+I while the death rate is represented by D+E.

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Growth models

(i) Exponential growth

When the nutrients available are excessive in quantity then it results in the formation
of exponential growth. If N is the size of the population, b is the birth rates (per
capita birth not total births) and d is the death rate (per capita births not the total
births), then during time period t, the increase or decrease in N, (dN/dt) will be-
dN / dt = (b - d) ×(N)

Let (b - d) = r , then

dN / dt = rN

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In this equation, r is called the ‘intrinsic rate of natural increase’. The exponential
also called the geometric growth pattern will result in the population forming a J-
shaped curve. The end equation which is obtained bas been stated below:

N t = N 0e r t

N t = Population density after time t

N 0 = Population density at time zero

r = intrinsic rate of natural increase

e = the base of natural logarithms.

(ii) Logistic growth

When the nutrients and other resources available are limited then the growth of the
population will be called the logistic growth or Verhulst-Pearl Logistic Growth. This
condition will result in more competition among organisms. The presence of limited
resources will result in a lag phase, then exponential growth followed by
deceleration, and finally asymptote.

The curve of logistic growth will be S-shaped or sigmoid in shape. The equation
below shows Verhulst-Pearl Logistic Growth:
dN / dt = rNk − N / K

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N = Population density at time t
r = Intrinsic rate of natural increase
K = Carrying capacity.

Population interactions

The interaction between different organisms can be divided into two categories that
are, interspecific interactions and intraspecific interactions. When the interaction
occurs between the same species then it is called Intraspecific interaction while the
interaction occurring between different organisms then it is called interspecific
interaction.

Type of interaction Response

Species A Species B

Neutralism 0 0

Mutualism + +

Commensalism + 0

Competition - -

Amensalism - 0

Predation + -

Parasitism + -

Parasitoidism + -

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 i. Predation: The interaction in which the prey is killed by the predator. This is
important for maintaining the species of the prey. In the case of the plants,
herbivores act like the predators. In some plants, various adaptations are found
that help them to protect themselves from the prey. The adaptation may include
thorns as a defense or defensive agents like caffeine, nicotine, quinine, etc, that
are also used commercially.

ii. Competition: The interaction between the organism where both the organism
compete for various resources that include food, water, shelter, etc. the organism
may be of the same species or may be of different species. This interaction occurs
when the resources are limited. According to the Gause’s principle of Competitive
Exclusion. The two species that are closely related will compete for the same
resources and cannot co-exist so the one which is inferior will be eliminated
during competition.

iii. Parasitism: It is an interaction where one species depends upon the other species
resulting in benefitting the one species and harming the other species. Those
parasites that feed on the outer surface of the host organism are called
ectoparasites.
For example, marine fishes consist of ectoparasitic copepods. In the case of birds,
there is Brood parasitism in which the birds lay eggs in the nest of the host while
the host incubates them.

iv. Commensalism: It is an interaction between species where it is observed that

one of the species is benefitted while the other species neither get any benefit nor
any harm. For example, an orchid growing as an epiphyte on the branch of mango.

v. Mutualism: It is the interaction where both the species will benefit each other.
Examples are lichens (mutual and symbiotic relationship between algae and
fungi), and mycorrhiza (symbiotic relationship between fungi and the roots of the
higher plants).

vi. Amensalism: It is the interaction between the organism in which one species is
harmed while the other species is neither benefited nor harmed.

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