BIOL 211 Lecture Notes - Deme, Carrying Capacity, Parasitism
Animal Ecology
• Hierarchy of ecology
o Organism, population, ecosystem (communities and environment),
biosphere
• Environment
o All conditions that affect survival
▪ Abiotic
• Ex. Weather, water, air, sunlight
▪ Biotic
o Habitat: physical space
o Niche: relationship of species with their environment
▪ Staying alive and adapting
o Animals may be constrained within their niche
▪ Fundamental: everywhere the species could live
▪ Realized: preferred habitat
• Populations
o Reproductively isolated group (species)
▪ Deme: subset of a population
▪ Structured age, sex ratio, growth rate (demography)
o Cohort: a generation of individuals
• Population Growth
o Intrinsic rate of increase (r)
o Limiting resource
o Carrying capacity (K)
• Regulation of Population Growth
o Populations oscillate
▪ Carrying capacity can change
▪ Lag time
▪ Extrinsic factors
• Density-independent (abiotic)
o Ex. Flood, fire, storms
• Density-dependent (biotic)
o Ex. Predation, parasitism, competition
• Community Interactions
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