Population Size - pg 236 and 237 text.

Task 1
Write out the official definitions of :
Species population community ecosystem habitat
into a bold and colourful box.
Task 2
The size of a population (the number of individuals) fluctuates from year to year
and season to season because of the influence of:
* availability of resources like food, shelter, water, mates.
* predation (being killed and eaten)
* disease (resulting in reduced fitness or death)
* immigration and emigration (loss or gain due to natural movement of
individuals)
* birth rate and death rate.
The focus of your study this year is on food supply, predation and disease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR_ulvjsCY8 – summary of factors.

Population size may decline (fall when conditions are unfavourable)

increase ( rise when conditions are favourable)

Organisms that enter a new habitat with lots of resources, little predation and
little disease will show a large increase in population with time.

However, if a population has been in an area a long time, it is usually in

equilibrium with its habitat – that means it has stabilized in numbers and
birth rate = death rate, and immigration = emigration.

If a new predator or a new disease enters the population it will decline and
recover to reach a new equilibrium level.

An example of population growth:

The growth of a bacterial population placed into a flask with warm nutrient
solution that is well aerated is shown below.
Bacteria in optimum conditions will divide every 20 minutes. (population
doubles every 20 minutes).
Task 3
Draw this diagram and annotate the stages as shown. (Half page size)

Study the diagram and using ideas on factors that affect population growth,
suggest reasons for the four different phases.

There are four recognised phases to population growth.

i) Lag Phase – numbers are so small at the very start, that doubling has only a
small effect, so growth rate is slow.
ii) Exponential phase – also called the log phase, population growth rate is high
as numbers build up doubling every 20 minutes. There is plenty of food and
water and oxygen.
iii) Stationary phase – birth rate = death rate, waste products are building up in
the medium and food supply, water and oxygen have started to become
limiting.
iv) Death phase – death rate > birth rate and population declines. Food, water
and oxygen have run out and waste products have become toxic.
Limiting factor – something present in the environment in such short supply
that it restricts life processes. Eg - If there is enough food and the temperature
is optimum, but there is not enough oxygen, then oxygen is the limiting factor.

Task 4

Graph of population size with time Describe what is happening and suggest
reasons for it.
PREDATOR PREY POPULATIONS:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-ecology/hs-ecological-relationships/v/predator-
prey-cycle

View the above video to get explanations for the features of the rabbit wolf graph.
Human Population Growth Text pg 238/9

1) Suggest reasons why the human population stayed very low for the centuries before
1500AD.
2) Predict with reasons what the human population graph will look like in the year 3000 AD.
3) Compare the limiting factors that would have affected populations in 1000AD, present
day and could affect us in 3000AD.
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth?
language=en
This is an interesting TED ex talk on global population.

Discussion on Human Populations:

* Improved agriculture  more food  better health  mortality reduced.
* Clean water + waste management  less disease.
* Medical care improved + antibiotics + antivirals + vaccinations  mortality red
* Improved housing
All of the above has contributed to greater longevity (live longer/greater age)
Population Pyramids.
The Three Basic Shapes of Population Pyramids
Expansive population pyramids are
used to describe populations that are
young and growing. They are often
characterized by their typical ‘pyramid’
shape, which has a broad base and
narrow top. Expansive population
pyramids show a larger percentage of
the population in the younger age
cohorts, usually with each age cohort
smaller in size than the one below it.
These types of populations are
typically representative of developing
nations, whose populations often have
high fertility rates and lower than
Expansive average life expectancies.
 Constrictive population pyramids
are used to describe populations that
are elderly and shrinking. Constrictive
pyramids can often look like beehives
and typically have an inverted shape
with the graph tapering in at the
bottom. Constrictive pyramids have
smaller percentages of people in the
younger age cohorts and are typically
characteristic of countries with higher
levels of social and economic
development, where access to quality
education and health care is available
to a large portion of the population.

Constrictive

Stationary, or near stationary,

population pyramids are used to
describe populations that are not
growing. They are characterized
by their rectangular shape,
displaying somewhat equal
percentages across age cohorts
that taper off toward the top.
These pyramids are often
characteristic of developed
nations, where birth rates are
low and overall quality of life is
high.

Stationary

Key Point – the base of the pyramid shows how many under 5s. If the
base is large, then there is a high birth rate.
Text pg 239 Q.
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