Environmental Studies Summary Life Sciences with diagrams (Biology) Life Sciences, ISBN: 9781776113316

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
1. Population Ecology
Ecology = study of interactions of organisms with their physical and biological environments

Population ecology = concerned with fluctuations in population size and factors that regulate populations

POPULATION SIZE
- Population size = total no. of individuals in a population.
- Population density = no. of individuals of a population per unit area

POPULATION PARAMETERS
→ 4 main factors, known as parameters, effect population size:
o Natality
Birth rate
o Mortality
Death rate
o Immigration
One-way movement into an area
o Emigration
One-way movement out of an area

→ A population where immigration/emigration don’t occur = closed population

DETERMINING POPULATION SIZE

- Can be determined by direct or indirect method.
- Method is determined by:
• The size
• The mobility

DIRECT TECHNIQUES

- Involve the total count of all individuals in the populations
- Direct counting (census)
- Census methods include:
• Direct contact counting of humans.
• Direct counting from vehicle/helicopter.
• Counting from aerial photographs.

INDIRECT TECHNIQUES

- Includes counting only part of the population
- This count is used as a sample to estimate population by statistical calculation.
- It includes:
• Mark-recapture technique
• Quadrat technique



Mark-recapture technique

- A specific area is demarcated
- A no. of individuals are caught, counted and marked , and they are known as the 1st sample.
- The marked individuals are released into the environment.
- Sufficient time must be allowed for the marked individuals to mix with the rest of the population.
- Another group of individuals is caught and counted and they are known as the 2nd sample.
- The number of marked individuals in the 2nd sample are counted.
- This data is used to determine the estimated size of the population:

, 𝑚×𝑠
P=
𝑡
p = estimated population size

m = total number of animals captured and marked in 1st sample

s = total number of animals captured in 2nd sample

t = number of marked individuals in 2nd sample

▪ Population must be closed
▪ Time must be short enough that no births/deaths occur

Quadrats

- Quadrat = a square frame
- An area where organisms must be counted is demarcated and the surface area determined.
- The quadrat is placed on the ground in the demarcated area and the organisms concerned are
counted inside the frame i
- This is the no. of individuals per unit area
- This process is repeated a few times in diff. areas of the demarcated area by placing the quadrat
randomly of the ground.
- The average no. of individuals per quadrat is calculated.
- The total number of individuals in the population is determined using the following formula.

𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎
𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑡 ×
𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎


POPULATION GROWTH FORMS
- Populations have distinctive growth patterns (population growth forms)
- Two growth forms are distinguished:
▪ Geometric J-shaped growth form
▪ Logistic or S-shaped (sigmoid) growth form

Geometric (J-shaped) growth form

- A population can result its full reproductive potential when it has unlimited resources such as food, water
and space and no predators.
- These ideal environmental conditions result in the maximum possible growth rate and population figures
increase rapidly.
- This type of growth is called geometric or exponential growth.

Example

→ If a population of bacteria in an environment has sufficient food and oxygen as well as the ideal
temperature, the bacteria will increase rapidly.
→ If the no. of bacteria in the population is recorded over a period of 14 days and the data represented
as a line graph, it will form a curve.