Science Notes - Quest 2
Population, Carrying Capacity, and Limiting Factors
● Any ecosystem has a limited amount of resources, so it can only sustain
a population of a certain size.
● Population: all individuals of a certain species that live in a certain
place at a certain time.
● Exponential growth shows an accelerating growth that produces a
J-shaped curve when the population is graphed against time.
○ This only occurs under certain circumstances in nature: i.e.
coming to a new habitat that has a lot of resources, less
predation, etc.
● The largest population size that an ecosystem can sustain is called its
carrying capacity.
● Carrying capacity is always limited by the resources that are available to
the population. These resources are called limiting factors because they
limit the size to which the population can grow.
● In any ecosystem, a population can keep growing only if it has an
endless supply of the resources it needs.
● Without these resources, fewer new members of the population will be
born, and more members of the population will die.
● Limiting factors control the carrying capacity of an ecosystem [size of its
populations].
● When a population is maintained by its carrying capacity, the size of the
population is at an equilibrium.
Limiting Factors
● Any resource that is in short supply.
● Limiting factors contribute to environmental resistance.
● Can be...
○ Biotic (i.e. competition for resources, predators, disease causing
organism, etc.)
○ Abiotic (i.e. amounts of sunlight, water, temperature, soil, air, etc.)
○ Natural Disturbances (i.e. fires, storms, etc.)
○ Human Interferences (i.e. pollution, logging, acid rain, etc.)
⇒ Biotic
- Humans hunt and kill too many animals.
- We cut too many trees to use the land to live on.
⇒ Abiotic
- Wind storms → trees could fall, break, and die → no habitat for birds
and squirrels, etc.
- Tidal Waves → floods affecting growth of plants
Human Activites and Carrying Capacity
● Humans alter natural ecosystems to suit their needs, thus carrying
capacities of these ecosystems change.
● Often the carrying capacity decrease for species that occupy
human-altered landscapes, but at times, it increases.
● Urban sprawl describes a city’s growth as its population increases.
● In urban sprawl, people build new homes and new businesses, schools,
etc. near the outer edge of a city because the centre of the city has
already been occupied they begin building and expanding outwards.
● Negative effects of urban sprawl...
- Increased dependence on automobiles
- Decreased farmlands as roads are built
- Reduced carrying capacities for native organisms
Intensification
- When a city’s population increases dramatically over a period of time it
poses a problem to city-builders and planners as how can these urban
areas fit so many additional people, all while ensuring that the
ecosystems in the area are sustained and protected.
- Intensification: Ontario has adopted this policy to reduce urban sprawl.
- The intensification policy requires that a large percentage of new
development must occur on land within the boundary of the city.
⇒ This can be done by adding additional floors on top of an
existing building, instead of building a new building elsewhere [building
upwards instead of outwards].
A Species’ Ecological Niche
- Species spend most of their time surviving and reproducing.
- Their jobs/roles are in a sense of providing benefits to their ecosystems.
- The resources that are being used by the organism, the abiotic limiting
factors that restrict how it can survive, as well as the biotic relationships
that it has with other species all make up as an organism’s ecological
niche.
- No 2 species can occupy the same ecological niche or provide the
exact same services to their ecosystem, because no 2 species live
exactly the same way.
The Human Niche
- The ecological niche of humans has been broadened by our intellectual
abilities and the development of modern technology.
- By building complex tools, controlling external forms of energy, and
expanding our use of resources, humans have been able to live
successfully in many different ecosystems, including the desert and
arctic.
- We have been able to construct our own niche.
- However, for us to continue occupying such a broad niche, we must use
the ecosystems that we inhabit and the resources they contain in a
sustainable way.
Biotic Relationships
1. Predator-Prey
- The predator who is a stronger organism consumes the prey
which is the weaker organism.
- i.e. Bear-fish, cheetah-zebra, bobcat-rabbit, etc.
2. Competition (Intraspecific & Interspecific)
- There are 2 forms of competition:
a. Interspecific Competition: 2 different species compete for the
same resources (food, water, habitat, etc.)
- i.e. Hyena + Vulture [fighting for food]
b. Intraspecific Competition: members of the same species compete
for resources (food, mates, habitat, water, etc.)
- i.e. 2 male moose fighting for female moose [mating]
3. Parasitism
- Relationship in which one organism (the parasite) benefits and the other
(the host) is harmed.
- Parasites live on or in the host.
- Examples of parasites: ticks, fleas, tapeworms, mosquitoes, etc.
- Examples of hosts: humans, cats, dogs, etc.
4. Mutualism
- A relationship in which both organisms benefit
- i.e. Lichen (fungus + algae) - fungus benefits as it gets food from the
algae, and the algae benefits by getting water and minerals from the
fungus.
5. Commensalism
- A relationship where one organism benefits but the other is not harmed,
but it does not benefit.
- i.e. Spanish moss grows on oak trees. The moss gets a home, and
exposure to sunlight. The tree does not get any benefits, but its growth
is not hindered either.
Biodiversity
- The number of different types of organisms and life forms in an area, as
well as the number and variety of ecosystems within and beyond the
region.
- The more organisms, the more biodiverse the area, thus… a more
healthy and sustainable environment.
Sustainability
- Sustainability of the environment means populations of plants, animals,
and other living organisms can continue to interact and reproduce
indefinitely to preserve biodiversity.
Present to Future Needs…
- Sustainable use of an ecosystem means using an ecosystem’s
resources that meets our current needs without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their needs.
- Genetic Diversity - differences among individuals of the same species.
- Protect - to guard legally from harm.
- Extinction - the death of every member of a species/death of entire
species - i.e. dodo bird, dinosaurs, baiji white dolphin
- Endangered - decrease in members (often by death) of a species
- bengal tiger, chimpanzee, etc.
- Captive Breeding - breeding of rare or endangered wildlife in controlled
settings to increase the population size.
- Trophic Cascades - powerful indirect interactions that can control
entire ecosystems, occurring when a trophic level in a food web is
suppressed.
- Introduced Species - any species that has been introduced into and
lives a ecosystem where it is not found naturally.
- They often thrive in their new ecosystems because there are so
few limiting factors to keep their populations from growing too
large.
- As a result, native species cannot get the resources they need
and their numbers tend to decrease.
- Not all are harmful: i.e. apples, corn, and many food crops grown
in Ontario are introduced species.
- Limiting factors such as consumers and disease keep populations
of these species in balance.
Link Between Biodiversity and Sustainability
- Review: A sustainable ecosystem must maintain a state of balance
between its diverse biotic and abiotic parts.
- This state of balance is called equilibrium.
- An ecosystem that is in equilibrium tends to have a high degree of
biodiversity.
- Such ecosystems tend to be a sustainable ecosystem.
Human Activity
- Human activity can threaten and even cause a decrease in biodiversity,
thus, harming ecosystems.
- There are 5 main causes:
1. Habitat Loss/Change
2. Overexploitation
3. Pollution
4. Alien and Invasive Species
5. Deforestation
1. Habitat Loss/Change
● Humans alter a habitat so much that the native species no longer
live there. Natural disasters drastically affect species’ habitats as
well.
2. Overexploitation
● Means using a resource faster than it can be replaced.
● Can often lead to extinction.
3. Pollution
● Any substance that is added to the environment that produces a
condition that is harmful to organisms.
● i.e. Solid waste that cannot be recycled (garbage goes into a
landfill), air pollution (one of the most significant air pollutants is
carbon dioxide), etc.
4. Alien and Invasive Species
● Alien Species: A species (non-native to that area) that is
accidentally or deliberately introduced into a new location. Often
are brought over through shipments of food and other goods.
● Most of these species are harmless or even beneficial to this
area, but not always…
● Invasive Species: Non-native species that causes harm to the
ecosystem into which it has been introduced.
● They outcompete the native species because they have no
natural predators in the new system.
i.e. The dog strangling vine from Eurasia, starlings and sparrows
outcompete blue birds.
5. Deforestation
● Deforestation occurs when forests are logged or cleared for
human use and never replanted.
● Canada has vast forested areas and ecosystems, especially in
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
● Logging companies often clearcut to remove trees, thus removing
a local ecosystem and threatening the area.
- The once large forest is now fragmented into smaller ones -
reducing resources as well.
● Clearcutting: removes all trees in an area, all at once, no matter
the size or importance.
How Are We Helping?
- Stewardships: the active assumption of responsibility for the welfare of
the environment.
- Many communities have adopted programs to maintain ecosystems that
are in danger of becoming unhealthy and try to rebuild ecosystems that
have already become so.
- Restoration Ecology: the renewal of degraded or destroyed
ecosystems through active human intervention.
[see examples of restoration ecology in notes]
Forest Sustainability
- Restoration: planting new trees in an area that has been cut. Either
through natural processes or replanting of seeds or trees in an area
where a forest was cut down.
- Leave the forests near large bodies of water in place - this will help
reduce change in flow of water.
Using What We Have
- Bioremediation: the use of living organisms to clean up contaminated
areas naturally.
- Certain plants are grown at toxic sites because they clean soils by
collecting poisons in their tissues. When these plants are
harvested, the soil quality has improved.
- Bioaugmentation: the use of organisms to add essential nutrients to
depleted soils.
- i.e. clovers are often planted to replenish nitrogen levels in soil
(a key nutrient for plants).