Interactions Between Population & Environment
- Organisms rely on resources from their environment for survival, e.g.
- Animals require:
- Food
- Water
- Mates
- Territory (that contains food, water and mates)
- Plants require:
- Water
- Light
- Minerals
- Space to grow (that provides access to water, light and minerals)
- Animals require:
- Organisms that require the same resources as each other will compete for survival
- Intraspecific competition occurs between individuals of the same species
- Interspecific competition occurs between individuals of different species
Intraspecific and interspecific competition diagram
Individuals compete for resources in order to survive; competition can be intraspecific (top) or interspecific (bottom)
Factors affecting population size
- The size of a population can be affected by factors in the environment, e.g.
- Competition
- Competition for resources, either within a species or with another species, limits the maximum size of a population
- Predation
- Predators will increase the death rate in a population, slowing population growth
- A lack of predators may result in the rapid growth of a population
- In a situation like this, the resulting large population will compete more for resources, and may be more susceptible to disease
- Disease
- Disease may kill some individuals, slowing population growth
- The effect of disease is likely to be greater in a large population as infection may spread more quickly in crowded conditions
- Pollution
- Pollution may kill some individuals, altering the structure of an ecosystem, e.g.
- A build-up of heavy metals in a food chain may affect top predators more than lower trophic levels, reducing predation
- Fertiliser run-off into water bodies may cause algal overgrowth, providing food for algae feeders but reducing light and oxygen levels deeper under the water
- Pollution may kill some individuals, altering the structure of an ecosystem, e.g.
- Competition