BIO205H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Metapopulation, Limit Cycle, Habitat Fragmentation
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Populations in nature often experience large fluctuations in size. Food and nesting sites, predation, competition, disease, parasites, weather or climate. -> age structure fluctuations: when a certain age group contains an unusually high low or number of indivs, it suggests the pop experienced unsually high birth or death rates in the past. Overshoot: when a population grows beyond its carrying capacity. Die-off: a substantial decline in density that typically goes well below the carrying capacity (follows overshoot) Population cycles: regular oscillation of a population over a longer period of time. Density dependence with time delays can cause populations to be inherently cyclic. -> delayed density dependence: when density dependence occurs based on a population density at some time in the past. Damped oscillations: a pattern of population growth in which the population initially oscillates but the magnitude of the oscillations declines over time.
