Chapter 6: Population Biology
6.1 Dynamics of Population Growth
1. Explain the relationship between the number of organisms in a population and the abiotic factors
of the environment.
2. Explain how exponential growth occurs in a natural population.
3. Explain the relationship between a population and it’s carrying capacity.
4. Describe how species respond to limits differently using r- and K-selected species reproductive
strategies
6.2 Complicating the Story: r=BIDE
1. Explain what influences the rate of population growth.
6.3 Factors that Regulate Population Growth
1. Explain how population growth is density independent of abiotic factors and natural disasters.
2. Explain how population growth is density dependent of biotic factors such as predator-prey
relationships, stress, crowding, and territoriality.
6.4 Conservation Biology
1. Explain the role of island biogeography in population size, growth, and stability.
Essential Knowledge
 The stability of populations, communities, and ecosystems is affected by interactions with biotic
and abiotic factors
 Biological systems are affected by disruptions such as invasive species, human impact, natural
disasters, water limitations, salination to their dynamic homoeostasis.
 Organisms exchange information with each other in response to internal changes and external
cues, which can change behavior (i.e., flight or fight response, predator warnings, protection of
young, plant-plant interactions due to herbivory, avoidance response).
 Living systems have a variety of signal behaviors or cues that produce changes in the behavior
of other organisms and can result in differential reproductive success (i.e., herbivory
responses, territorial marking in mammals, coloration on flowers).
 Animals use visual, audible, tactile, electrical and chemical signals to indicate dominance, find
food, establish territory and ensure reproductive success (i.e., bee dances, bird songs,
territorial marking in mammals, pack behavior in animals, her, flock, and schooling behavior in
animals, predator warning).
Vocabulary
Biotic potential
Boom & bust life cycle
Carrying capacity (K)
Conservation genetics
Critical number
Density dependent
Density independent
Doubling time
Emigration
Exponential growth
Fecundity
Founder effect
Generalist species
Genetic drift
Genetic drift
Hardy-Weinberg
Immigration
Island biogeography
J-curve
K-selected species
Logistic growth
Metapopulation
Population
r-selected species
Rule of 70
S-curve
Sigmoid
Specialist species
Survivorship curves
Territoriality