Student book questions

2.3 Population size depends on abiotic and biotic factors

Pages 22–23

Check your learning 2.3

Remember and understand

1 Describe suitable methods for estimating the size of populations of:

a plants and stationary animals

b other animals.

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the methods you described in question 1?

Apply and analyse

3 Students on a field trip with a national park ranger set traps for a small nocturnal marsupial,
Antechinus stuartii, in a heathland ecosystem. They captured eight animals on the first night and
marked white dots on their tails. Then they released them. On the second night, they captured 10
animals, of which four were marked.

a What is the estimation of the population size of A. stuartii in this ecosystem?

© Oxford University Press 2017 1

Oxford Science 9 Western Australian Curriculum Teacher obook assess ISBN 9780190307233
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.
 b How could the students increase the accuracy of this experiment?

4 Is growth in population size always desirable? Discuss.

5 Ecosystems are said to be in a state of equilibrium or balance. It appears that nothing is changing. But
is there change?

6 Explain how predator–prey relationships achieve a state of balance. Why is this balance essential for
the:

a prey?

b predator?

© Oxford University Press 2017 2

Oxford Science 9 Western Australian Curriculum Teacher obook assess ISBN 9780190307233
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.