I.

Nature of population
biology
A. Major areas of population biology (2)

1. Population genetics
2. Population ecology - this course
 1. Population Genetics
a. origin and maintenance of genetic variation
and diversity
1. Relative amount of polymorphic vs. monomorphic
2. Relative amount of heterozygosity vs. homozygosity
b. evolutionary consequences of genetic change
1. Theory based in Mendelian laws and processes of
Natural Selection
2. Management - sophisticated hybridization
programs used in agriculture, medicine, insect
management
3. Rare species Population Viability Analysis (PVA)
 2. Population Ecology - this
course:
a. relationships of population to their environment
and each other
b. number of individuals, not gene frequency
1. Theory - less basis than population Genetics
a. mathematics of growth
b. limits on growth
2. Management - based somewhat on theory
but more on empirical data where theory is
weak
 B. History of Population
Ecology
a. Thomas Malthus - human populations
and geometric (exponential) growth
cannot continue (1798)
b. P. F. Verhulst - logistic growth (1838)
c. J. Von Liebig - law of the minimum
(1840)
d. F. F. Blackman - law of limiting factors
(1905)
 History, continued
e. A. J. Lotka predator-prey systems (1925)
f. V. Volterra predator-prey and competition
(1926)
g. Raymond Pearl - formalized logistic (1927)
h. G. F. Gause - The Struggle for Existence
Competition, theory and empirical data;
classic experiments (1934)
i. Nicholson A. J., and J. P. Bailey - population
prediction and equilibrium (1935)
 History,
continued
j. P. H. Leslie - projection matrices
forpopulation prediction and
determination of equilibrium levels (1945)
k. W. F. Lidicker - dispersal theory &
regulation of #s below carrying capacity
(1962)
l. George Innis - mathematician turned
ecologist - computer modeling and
stochastic models - filling the country
with modelers (1970's).
 C. Population study - an
overview
1. Definition of population
group of organisms of a single species which
occupies a particular space at a particular time.
2. Population has some characteristics of individual
a. Structure and life history - like individual
1. Grow, differentiate and respond to
environment
b. Characters unique to groups
1. Density, birth and death rates, sex and age
structure, spatial distribution
2. These characters (properties) are the main
subject matter of population ecology.
3. The study of factors affecting spatial and
temporal patterns in the number of
individuals
a. Reproductive rates and mortality
b. Dispersal and migration
c. population structure
d. regulatory mechanisms and
e. interspecies relationships
4. Major questions
a. What factors are involved in regulation of
population size?
b. What relationships exists between
stability and complexity?
c. What are the limiting factors?
 5. Limiting vs. Regulating
factors
a. Limiting: what causes carrying capacity
to be at a certain level; K=c
b. Regulating factors: what causes change
in population level to be zero; n = 0
c. Controversy
1. David Lacks food hypothesis vs. Christians
hormonal (adreno-pituitary) system: n
regulated below food level
2. Fluctuating K - use avg. (K)
 6. Density dependent vs.
independent
a. Dependent - a factor which affects a varying
percentage of the population depending on its
density
1. Parasites, disease, predation and competition (the biotic
factors) are often density-dependent
b. Independent - factors which affect a constant
percentage
1. Weather (the physical factors)
c. Controversy - entomologists from Australia
1. A. J. Nicholson: Population equilibrium, especially
competition, was brought about by density-dependent
effects
2. Andrewartha and Birch - a book in 1954 1) equilibrium is
a fiction and 2) no environmental factors can operate in
a density-independent way.
 7. Solution of ecological
problems
a. Objectives and hypotheses
b. Tests of hypotheses
1. Sampling and data analysis (empirical)
2. Model formulation and analysis
c. Predictions and general theory
 8. Laboratory and field studies
a. Lab: carefully controlled experiments allow
for direct hypothesis testing
1. Insect, plants, and micro-cosm experiments
2. Small mammals
3. A few larger small-mammal predator-prey
studies
b. Field: important to understand natural
populations
1. Plants and animals
2. Short-term vs. long-term a lack long-term data
for making needed generalizations
 9. Looking for generalizations:
SCIENCE
a. Not get too caught up in the peculiarities of
an individual population, but look for the
generalizations that can be made
1. Plant ecologists: afraid of the community
idea now (Gleason vs. Clements)
2. Population genetics: not worried about
patterns that dont fit simple allele system -
modified
b. Do not over-simplify or be incomplete
1. problems are complex and individual
 10. Mathematical or Quantitative
ecology
a. Not statistics
1. Statistics is a branch of mathematics dealing
with number distributions and probability
b. Dealing with quantities in ecology
1. N
2. Rates affecting N
3. Factors quantitative effect on rates
c. Use calculus and statistics
1. Calculus: rates of change, solutions to
equations, stability, projections, instantaneous
rates
2. Statistics: correlation of factors with population,
mean, variance, confidence, significance, etc.
 Summary
1. Course will cover population
ecology
2. Not very old science with few
laws
3. Variety of population
characteristics are studied by
using a variety of methods
4. Highly quantitative by nature