BIOLS340

CH9: Population distribution & abundance

Done by: Yousif Adel
 Introduction
-Population: a group of individuals of a single species inhabiting a
specific area
-A population of plants or animals might occupy a mountaintop, a
river basin, a coastal marsh or an island
-The areas inhabited by populations range in size from few cubic
centimeters occupied by bacteria in a rotting apple to millions of
square kilometers occupied by a population of migratory whales
-Population Characteristics:
1.Distribution: the size, shape and location of the area it occupies
2.Spacing of individuals
3.Density: number of individuals per unit area
4.Age distributions (birth and death rates, immigration and emigration,
rates of growth)
5.Abundance: the total number of individuals of a species in a specified
area

9.1: Distribution limits

-The physical environment limits the geographic distribution of species
-The environmental limits of a species are related to its niche
-Niche: summarizes the environmental factors that influence the growth,
survival, and reproduction of a species
-(i.e., species niche consists of all the factors necessary for its existence;
when, where and how a species makes its living)

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-Development of the Niche concept:
-Grinnell (1917,1924): niche is influenced by the physical environment
-Elton (1927): niche is influenced by biological interactions and abiotic
factors
-Hutchinson (1957) defined niche as:
 n-dimensional hyper-volume
-n: number of environmental factors important to survival and
reproduction of a species

-Fundamental niche: specifies the values of the n environmental factors

permitting a species to survive, grow and reproduce (i.e., the physical
conditions under which a species might live, in the absence of
interactions with other species)
-Realized niche: the actual niche of a species whose distribution is
restricted by biotic interactions such as competition, predation, disease,
and parasitism

Kangaroo distributions and climate

-Caughley (1978) found a close relationship between climate and
distribution of the three largest kangaroos in Australia
1.The eastern grey kangaroo in the eastern third (little seasonal variation
in precipitation or dominance by summer precipitation)
2.The western grey kangaroo in the southern and western regions
(dominance of winter rainfall)
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3.The red kangaroo in the arid and semiarid interior of Australia
-Limited distributions may not be directly determined by climate
 Climate often influences species distributions via:
1.Food production
2.Water supply
3.Habitat
4.Incidence of parasites, pathogens and competitors

Tiger beetle of cold climates

-Tiger Beetle (Cicindela longilabris) lives at higher latitudes and
elevations than most other species in North America
-Study by Schultz et al. show that distribution of tiger beetle in North
America is confined to cool environments
-This study supports the generalization that the physical
environment limits species distributions

Distributions of plants along a

moisture-temperature gradient
-Encelia species distributions correspond to variations in temperature
and precipitation

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 -Encelia californica (least pubescent leaves) occupies narrow coastal
zone north-south (cool; precipitation 100-400 mm)
-Encelia actoni (slightly more pubescent) more inland (slightly warmer
and drier)
-Encelia frutescens (almost free of pubescence) and Encelia farinosa
(with pubescence) in overlapping very hot environment
-E. frutescens: High rate of transpiration (evaporative cooling,
lives near temporary stream or desert washes)
-E. farinosa: grows on upland slopes

Temperature regulation and distributions of Encelia farinosa and E.frutescens

across microenvironments 4
 Distributions of barnacles along an intertidal
exposure gradient
-Organisms living in an intertidal zone have evolved to different degrees
of resistance to drying
-Barnacles show distinctive patterns of zonation within intertidal zone

-Chthamalus stellatus adults are mainly in the upper intertidal zone

-Balanus balanoides adults are mainly in the middle and lower intertidal
zone
-Under very low tide (occasionally) Balanus suffered more mortality
than Chthamalus in upper intertidal and normal mortality in the lower
intertidal zone
-Balanus appears to be more vulnerable to desiccation, excluding it from
the upper intertidal zone
 What excludes Chthamalus from lower intertidal zone?
 Chthamalus adults appear to be excluded from lower areas by
competition with Balanus, (i.e., Larvae cannot compete with those
of Balanus)

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 Distributions of barnacles along an
intertidal gradient

9.2: Patterns on small scales

-On small scales, individuals within populations are distributed in
patterns that may be random, regular or clumped
-Random distribution (Neutral responses)
-Regular distribution (Avoidance, competition)
-Clumped distribution (Mutual attraction)

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-Random: a distribution in which individuals within a population have
an equal chance of living anywhere within an area
-Uniform distribution of resources
-Regular: a distribution in which individuals are uniformly spaced
-Exclusive use of areas
-Individuals avoid one another
-Clumped: a distribution in which individuals have a much higher
probability of being found in some areas than in others (i.e., unequal
chance of being anywhere)
-Mutual attraction between individuals
-Patchy resource distribution

Distribution of Individuals on Small Scales

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 Distribution of tropical bee colonies
Aggressive species Non-aggressive species
show regular distribution show random or clumped
distributions
forage in groups and feed on feed singly or in small groups and
flowers that occur in high-density on widely distributed flowers
clumps

mark prospective nest sites with a -

pheromone (chemical substance
secreted by some animals for
communication with
other members of their species)

Individuals are attracted to the -

nest and fight for possession

Distributions of desert shrubs

-Traditional theory suggests desert shrubs are regularly spaced due to
competition
-Phillips and MacMahon (1981) found distribution of desert shrubs
changes from clumped to regular patterns as they grow
-Young shrubs clumped for 3 reasons:
1.Seeds germinate at safe sites
2.Seeds not dispersed from parent areas
3.Asexual reproduction

-Observing distribution of individuals in local populations of creosote

bush, Larrea tridentata, ecologists suggested that their spacing is regular

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-Phillips and MacMahon proposed as plants grow, some individuals in
clumps die, reducing clumping
 Competition among remaining plants produces higher mortality
-Eventually creates regular distributions
 Desert shrubs compete for water and nutrients

Change in creosote bush distributions with increasing shrub size

-Work by Brisson and Reynolds (1994):

-Roots of adult creosote bush plants grow in a pattern that reduces
overlap between roots of adjacent plants:
-The roots of 32 creosote bushes were mapped
-20% or more root overlap (if they had circular distributions)
-Excavated roots showed 4% overlap

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Competitive interactions with neighboring shrubs influence the
distribution of creosote bush roots

9.3: Patterns on large scales

-On large scales, individuals within a population are clumped
-Bird Populations Across North America
1.Terry Root (1988) using the “Christmas Bird Counts”: wintering
bird populations are clumped
2.Brown, Mehlman, and Steven (1995) using counts during
breeding seasons: breeding bird populations are clumped

Winter distribution of, a-the American crow and b-the fish crow
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 9.4: Organism size and population density
-Population density declines with increasing organism size
 What factors produce variation in population density?
 Densities of animal and plant populations decrease with increasing
size

-Animal Size and Population Density:

1.Work by Damth (1981): Relationship between body size and
population density of 307 herbivorous mammals. Regression line shows
that there is an average decrease in population density with increased
body size
2.Work by Peter and Wassenberg (1983): Relationship between body
size and average population density for a variety of animals
-Result shows:
-Population density decreased with increased body size
 However, there are differences between groups:
-Aquatic invertebrates tend to have higher population densities
than terrestrial invertebrates of similar size
-Mammals tend to have higher population densities than birds of
similar size

Plant size and population density

-Plant population density decreases with increasing plant size
-The size density relationship changes dramatically:
-Within plant populations
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 -Between populations of plants that reach different sizes at
maturity
-Tree seedlings can live at very high densities, but as the trees
grow, density declines progressively until mature trees are at low
densities

Rarity and vulnerability to extinction

-Commonness and rarity of species are influenced by:
1.Geographic range (extensive vs restricted)
2.Habitat tolerance (broad vs narrow)
3.Population size (large vs small)
 Populations that are least threatened by extinction have?
1.Extensive geographic ranges
2.Broad habitat tolerances
3.Some large local populations

-Attributes of Rarity:
1.Small geographic range
2.Narrow habitat tolerance
3.Low population density
-There are 8 possible combinations of the above factors, 7 of which
Include at least 1 attribute of rarity

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 Examples of Rarity
-Rarity I:
Extensive Range; Broad Habitat Tolerance; Small Local Populations
-Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus): All the Northern Hemisphere
-Tiger (Panthera tigris): Turkey, eastern Siberia, Java, Bali

-Rarity II:
Extensive Range; Large Populations; Narrow Habitat Tolerance
-Passenger Pigeon: East to Midwest United States. Narrow habitat

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requirements for nesting sites. Extinct
-Harelip sucker fish (Lagochila lacera): East to central United States.
Narrow habitat requirements restricted to large pools with rocky bottoms
in clear, medium-sized streams about 15-30 m wide. Extinct

-Extreme Rarity:
Restricted Range; Small Populations; Narrow Habitat Tolerance
-Mountain Gorilla, the giant panda, the California condor
-Island’s species are particularly vulnerable

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