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10
SCIENCE
QUARTER 3
Week 8

Capsulized Self-Learning Empowerment

Toolkit

Schools Division Office of Zamboanga City

Region IX, Zamboanga Peninsula
Zamboanga City

“Unido, Junto avanza con el EduKalidad Cree, junto junto puede!”

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 1

SUBJECT & Science

QUARTER 3 WEEK 8 DAY ____________________________________
GRADE/LEVEL 10 dd/mm/yyyy

TOPIC The Ups and Downs of Population Growth

LEARNING 12. Explain the relationship between population growth and carrying
COMPETENCY capacity. (S10LT-IIIi-42)
IMPORTANT: Do not write anything on this material. Write your answers on a separate sheet.
Do not forget to answer all the Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs).

UNDERSTAND
The Ups and Downs of Population Growth
Is it possible for any one population to grow so
Why Study Population Growth? large it takes over the planet? In this lesson, you
will learn the answer to that question. You will
A population is a group of organisms of learn about the limiting factors of population
the same species – plant, animals, and growth and how it controls population numbers.
other organisms – that live in a certain area
at the same time.

Studying how and why populations grow (or shrink) helps scientists make better
predictions about future changes in population sizes and growth rates. Populations that are
growing or diminishing can be indicators of potential problems in the organisms’ environment,
and such conditions alarm the ecologists if something is going wrong. Why is a population’s
size increasing or decreasing?

There are many factors that can cause a population’s size to

change. But first, you must understand the basic reasons
behind why a population increases or decreases.
Any population, whether it will be that of humans, animals, the
mold growing on bread, or the bacteria living in your intestines,
will grow if more organisms are being developed (Genetically
Figure 1. Penguin Population modified organisms), or born, than are dying.

What is population density?

While population would probably to continue to grow in

size, a population of organisms cannot grow forever–its
growth will be limited, or stopped, at some point, and the
death rate will be greater than the birth rate. A population’s
growth is limited by two general factors: density-
independent factors and density-dependent factors.

Population density refers to the number of organisms

per unit area. If a population’s density is very high, that
means there are a lot of organisms crowded into a certain Figure 2.
Sample of Population density of
area. If a population’s density is low, that means there are people in a certain community
very few organisms in an area.

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 2

A factor that regulates a population’s growth and is influenced by population density

is called density-dependent limiting factor. If the population’s density does not directly
influence changes in population’s growth, then it is called density-independent limiting
factor.

Density-independent limiting factors

s

Natural disasters will

stop a population from
growing no matter how
many organisms are
living in a certain area.

Sunlight

Temperature

Human activities that alter the

environment will also decrease the
number of organisms in a population.

Density-dependent limiting factor

Diseases and Parasites – infectious diseases and parasites spread

faster in densely populated areas.

Predation – plenty of prey available, predators will be able to eat

sufficiently and to reproduce, but the population of their prey will begin
to decrease. The drop in food availability in turn causes a drop in
predator population.

Competition for resources – organism with better adaptations to

obtain (food) resources will be able to reproduce more often, and its
population will grow.

Emigration – occurs when a population approaches its carrying capacity,

and individual organisms leave and go to a new area to find resources for
survival.

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 3

Before a population reaches its carrying capacity, it experiences a period of rapid

growth. This period of growth is called exponential population growth. During this period,
there are plenty of resources available for all organisms, so more births are recorded than
deaths in organisms.

When resources are unlimited, population exhibit exponential

growth, resulting in a J-shaped curve. When resources are limited,
populations exhibit logistic growth. In logistic growth, population
expansion decreases as resources become scarce, and it levels off
when the carrying capacity of the environment is reached, resulting
in an S-shaped curve.
Source: [Link]

A population stops growing when it reaches the maximum number of

organisms that can be supported or “carried” by the environment. This
number is known as the population’s carrying capacity in a particular
environment.

SAQ-1: What are the limiting factors that affect population growth?
SAQ-2: What do you think will happen if the human population reaches its carrying capacity?

Let’s Practice! (Write your answer on the separate sheets)

PART 1.

Below is the graph of a habitat of a goat population that has reached its carrying capacity.

1. What is the carrying capacity of the goat

population?
_________________________________
Why? ____________________________
_________________________________

2. What have you noticed with the population

of goat between mid-May and mid-June?
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 4

PART 2. Cause and Effect

Read the following situation on the left side of the chart then, predict and write the effect in
terms of carrying capacity on the right side of the table. The first one is done for you.

What will be the effect of this in

Situation
terms of carrying capacity?
1. Statistics show that the number of There will be a decrease in population
babies born per day doubles the since there are more deaths than
number of death per day. babies born.
2. Palawan government creates more
improvised breeding areas for the
endangered marine turtle and coral reef
fishes in the area.
3. Sharks are hunted and killed for their
fins.

4. The oil spill in Cavite harmed many

aquatic organisms in the vicinity.

5. A new strain of corona virus breaks out

and affects the global population.

6. Super typhoon Yolanda caused many

residents to leave Leyte.

7. Rampant deforestation affects the

population of wild boar in Negros.
8. An increase in population of house
lizard in Barangay Himpot causes a
decrease in Dengue cases.

REMEMBER
Key Points

 A factor that regulates a population’s growth and is influenced by population density is

called density-dependent limiting factor such as natural disasters, temperature,
sunlight, and the activities of human environment.
 If the population’s density does not directly influence changes in population’s growth,
then it is called density-independent limiting factor such as diseases and parasites,
competition for resources, predation, and emigration.
 A population’s carrying capacity is the maximum number of organisms that can be
supported or “carried” by the environment.
 When resources are unlimited, population exhibit exponential growth, resulting in a
J-shaped curve.
 When resources are limited, populations show logistic growth, population expansion
decreases as resources become scarce, and it levels off when the carrying capacity of
the environment is reached, resulting in an S-shaped curve.

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 5

TRY
Directions: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
(Answer on the Learner’s Activity and Assessment sheets)
1. What type of population growth is shown in 6. If the amount of food or resources
the graph? available increases, the carrying
capacity for an animal:

a. stays the same

b. increases
c. decreases
d. fluctuates

7. An S-shaped growth curve shows that

the population ________.

a. grew quickly at first and then

a. normal growth slowed down
b. exponential growth b. grew slowly at first and then grew
c. logistic growth faster
d. none of the above c. goes to chaotic cycles
d. has gone extinct
2. When a population grows past the
ecosystem’s carrying capacity, what 8. Why do new populations have such
happens to the population? high growth?

a. Continues to grow a. resources are not as limited

b. The population starts to die off to return b. resources are more limited
to carrying capacity c. there are no established
c. The population will go extinct due to predators yet
lack of resources d. there are not enough diseases
d. The individuals in the population may yet
begin to search for resources
elsewhere For question no. 9-10, study the graph that
shows the growth rate of two micro-
3. A person breeds guinea pigs in a cage. After organisms:
a few generations, the breeder observes that
the guinea pigs are more aggressive towards
each other, the young are less healthy and
more young guinea pigs die. What do you
think will happen to the population of the
guinea pigs?

a. The population will remain the same.

b. The population will increase.
c. The population will decrease.
d. The population is not affected.
9. Which of the two microorganism is
4. If a disease destroying barley plants in a field better adapted to competition?
swept through an ecosystem, what would a. P. aurelia
happen to the barley-eating bird population b. P. caudatum
in the field? c. both of them
d. None of them
a. The bird population would stay the
same.

WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school
 6

b. The bird population would infinitely 10. What can you infer about the graph?
increase.
c. The bird population would decrease. a. The population of P. caudatum
d. Neither will the bird population increase increases while the population of
or decrease. P. aurelia decreases when they are
grown together.
5. Which of the following causes a decreasing b. The graph is an example of a
wildlife population in most of the places in density-dependent limiting factor.
our country? c. The graph is an example of
density-independent limiting factor.
a. loss of limiting factor d. The graph shows than an increase
b. loss of natural disturbances in population of the protest
c. loss of habitat [Link] causes a decrease in the
d. loss of carrying capacity population of P. caudatum when
they are grown together.

Acosta, Herma D, Liza A Alvarez, Dave G Angeles, Ruby D Arre, Ma.

Pilar P Carmona, Aurelia S Garcia, Arlen Gatpo, et al. Science
Learner’s Material. Pasig City: REX Book Store, Inc., 2015

An Introduction to Population Growth. (n.d). Nature News. Nature

Publishing Group. Accessed June 20, 2020.
REFERENCE/S
[Link]
introduction-to-population-growth-84225544/

The Limiting Factors of Population Growth. (n.d). [Link]. Accessed

June 21, 2020. [Link]
[Link]
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WRITTEN BY: FLORA MAY B. PACATANG

Secondary School Teacher I
Curuan National High school