Unit III.

Population Ecology

A population is a group of the same species that live in one area. Population Ecology is
used by Ecologist to study the population characteristics as basis for species or biodiversity
protection and conservation. Principles in ecology may be used to manage wildlife, fisheries and
forests for sustainable yield or revise the decline of threatened or endangered species.
Growing human population have implications to the earth’s ecological capacity.
Ecological capacity refers to ability of the earth to maintain its natural, original or current
condition to produce goods and services to human society. The ecological footprint represents
the amount of productive land needed to support a nation’s resource consumption. Ecological
footprint will increase as human population increases, thereby affecting the ecological capacity
of the earth.
This Unit will provide basic concepts in Population Ecology, e.g. population
characteristics, growth, and the impacts of population growth to the environment.

Learning outcomes:

1. describe the characteristics of population and some basic concepts on

population ecology;
2. discuss some environmental problems brought about by
overpopulation/rapid population growth;
4. propose possible solutions to the problems associated with
overpopulation/rapid population growth.

Activity 1.
ELICIT Stage: Learning about Population Attributes

➢ What to do:

1. Read the “Notes on Population (Part 1)” presented below to learn about the
characteristics of population (population attributes) and some important concepts on
population ecology.
 ____________

NOTES ON POPULATION (Part 1)

*Lynnette-Asuncion Ejem

Population ecology is the study of populations in relation to environment, including

environmental influences on density and distribution, age structure, and population size.

• A population is a group of individuals of a single species living in the same general area

Population Characteristics/Attributes

1. Density is the number of individuals per unit area or volume

2. Dispersion is the pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries
of the population

• Question:
-Why does population size (of some individuals) change over time?

Density is the result of an interplay between processes that add individuals to a

population and those that remove individuals

• Immigration is the influx of new individuals from other areas

• Emigration is the movement of individuals out of a population

Patterns of Dispersion
• Environmental and social factors influence spacing of individuals in a population

a. In a clumped dispersion, individuals aggregate in patches

A clumped dispersion may be influenced by resource availability and behavior
-individuals clump into groups or clusters bec individual animals, plants, and
 microorganisms tend to prefer microhabitats defined by soil type, moisture or
certain kind of host trees
-many species live and move around in large groups which can provide increased
awareness of and defense against predators
-Plants may be clumped in certain sites where soil conditions and other
environmental factors favor germination and growth
-Butterfly fish, like many fishes, are often found clumped in schools; schooling
may increase the hydrodynamic efficiency of swimming, reduce predation risks,
and increase feeding efficiency

b. A uniform dispersion is one in which individuals are evenly distributed

• It may be influenced by social interactions such as territoriality
-the uniform spacing of the king penguins in South Georgia Island reflects
their maintenance of small breeding territories

c. In a random dispersion, the position of each individual is independent of other

individuals
-It occurs in the absence of strong attractions or repulsions
-Trees of the same species are often randomly distributed in tropical rain
forests, but this pattern of dispersion is rare in nature
 3. Natality- the natural ability of a population to grow in number (birth rate)
4. Mortality- the decrease in population due to death of individuals (death rate)
5. Age distribution - describes how the total population of a country is divided
into different age groups starting from the youngest to the oldest individuals
6. Biotic potentials- the inherent ability of a given popn group to reproduce and
to survive
7. Population dispersal- refers to the movement of people into or out of
particular place at a given time

Demography

-Demography is the study of the vital statistics of a population and how they
change over time
-Death rates and birth rates are of particular interest to demographers
-Demography is the study of factors that affect birth and death rates in a
population; is the statistical analysis and description of population aggregates
with reference to the distribution, vital statistics, age, sex, and related factors.

-Current World Population: 7.8 Billion (Worldometer as of October, 2020)

Causes of Rapid Population Growth in the Philippines

1. Traditional love for large families
2. Fatalistic attitude (bahala na; God will provide)
3. Sex question (e.g. when all children are girls, parents want to have another, but a baby
boy)
4. The macho image – a value prevalent to males
5. Ineffective family planning program
6. Roman Catholic Church’s disagreement with certain family planning methods
 7. The “other” factors: absence of electricity in rural areas, no forms of entertainment, and
use of mosquito nets.

Rapid population growth leads to such numerous problems as:

1. Economic problems (increased unemployment, inflation);
2. Social problems (poverty, crimes, addiction, juvenile delinquency, suicides, prostitutions);
3. Environmental problems (congestion, pollution: land, air, water, noise, deforestation);
4. Health problems (communicable diseases and epidemics, ineffective and health insufficient
and medical services, and malnutrition);
5. Educational problems (deteriorating quality of education, shortage of teachers, classrooms,
books and instructional materials);
6. Destruction of nature (exploitation and depletion of natural resources);
7. Moral and spiritual degeneration (sex, flesh trade, immoral acts, growing
materialism, lack of spirituality);
8. Insufficient food supply and other basic needs;
9. Degradation of the aesthetic sense and values (gambling, illegal logging,
individualistic attitudes).
____________

Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a major cause of most of the world’s problems. Whether it is a question of food
shortage, lack of drinking water or energy shortages, every country in the world is affected by it
– or will be. Partly thanks to the import of goods from abroad, any particular country is able to
maintain its own welfare. But this cannot go on in an unlimited way. In fact, the number of
inhabitants is rising in every country. The world population is threatening to rise in the next few
decades to 8 or 10 billion. There is a good chance that more and more countries will need their
own products themselves.

Our planet can offer a quality of life comparable to that enjoyed in the European Union to no
more than 2 billion people. With a population of 8 to 10 billion, welfare per person on a world
scale will drop to that of a poor farmer who can scarcely provide sufficient food for himself and
knows nothing of welfare. And thus, we will have to share everything fairly in order to avoid
disputes or war.

The climate is changing – and it matters little whether this can be blamed on human activity or
on changes in the solar system. The sea level only has to rise slightly in order to cause a great deal
of valuable agricultural land to disappear. At present we seem to think that we can keep ahead
of famine with the use of artificial fertilizers, by the inhumane breeding of animals and other
survival strategies.

Human beings have a tendency to want more and more welfare. World-wide the numbers of cars
and refrigerators are increasing before our very eyes. But there will come a time when population
growth and welfare collide. There is a reasonably good chance that floods of people will trek all
over the world searching for more food and welfare.
Technicians are only too happy to point to technology that has solutions to all our problems up
its sleeve. Unfortunately, technical solutions have not as yet been able to combat world hunger in
any significant way. Wherever there is no recognition or solving of the problems on a worldwide
scale, war and violence would seem to be inevitable: everyone wants to survive.