Biology, Eighth Edition (Raven)

Chapter 55: Population Ecology

Learning Outcomes

• Know the four key elements of the physical environment and understand their importance to individuals and populations.
• Describe and give examples of individual responses to environmental changes.
• Identify examples of evolutionary responses to environmental variations.
• Understand what constitutes a population and distinguish the changes that can occur in its characteristic features, e.g., range expansion and contraction.
• Differentiate among random, uniform, and clumped spacings of populations.
• Describe several methods used by terrestrial plants to disperse their seeds.
• Understand what a metapopulation is and how it is associated with source and sink populations.
• Define demography and describe factors that can affect population growth rates.
• Recognize the value of life tables and be able to use the information provided by one.
• Draw the three types of survivorship curves, explain, and give examples of each.
• Understand why and how reproductive success is maximized by organisms using different reproductive strategies.
• Distinguish between of the exponential and logistic growth models and explain the significance to a population’s growth when it experiences either one.
• Define carrying capacity and understand how it can affect population size.
• Compare density-dependent and density independent growth regulating effects and give examples of each.
• Understand the reasons for predator-prey cycles and give examples.
• Differentiate between r-selected and K-selected life history adaptations.
• Be able to interpret information provided by a population pyramid.
• Comprehend the concept of ecological footprints and what they mean to the future of the Earth.