CH- 11 ORGANISMS AND POPULATIONS

 Ecology is a subject which studies the interaction among organisms and between the organism and its physical (abiotic )
environment.
 Ecology is basically concerned with four levels of biological organizations.
Organisms, Populations, communities and biomes.
 Four levels of organization
Organism Populations Community Biomes
Individual A group of individuals of Two or more population. Two or more communities
same species. (Population interacting with make biomes.
other population)

POPULATION ATTRIBUTES
 Population - Individuals of same species living in groups in well defined area, sharing and competing for similar resources
and potentially interbreed (Sexual reproduction). For example, group of human- human population, Group of dogs – dog
population.
 Cormorants (medium to large birds) in a wetland, Rats in an abandoned dwelling, Teakwood trees in a forest, bacteria in a
culture plate and Lotus plants in a pond are examples of population.
 Natural selection operates at population level.
 Ecology links to population genetics and evolution.
 A population has certain attributes, whereas an individual Organism does not. An individual may have births and death,
but the population has birth rates and death rates.
 Rates are expressed as change in numbers (increase or decrease) with respect to total numbers of the population.

 Birth Rate (b)= natality (B) (newly added) / size of original population
(PYQ) Ex- Original population = 20
Newly added = 8
Current population =28
Birth rate (b)= 8/20= 0.4

 Death Rate (d)= mortality (D) (recently died) / size of original population
(PYQ) Ex- Original population = 40
Recently died = 4
Current population =36
Birth rate (b)= 4/40= 0.1

 Sex ratio = Percentage of males and females in a population

 Age pyramid = When age distribution is plotted for a population, the resulting structure is an age pyramid.
 Age pyramid can have three shapes.
Pyramidal Bell Shaped Urn shaped
For expanding population. Stable population. For declining population.

QUESTIONS
1. Calculate the death rate if 6 individual in a laboratory population of 60 fruit flies died during a particular week.
6/60= 0.1
2. What are the four levels of biological organization with which ecology basically deals?
3. List the attributes that populations possess but not individuals.

Population density – Population size in a given area is technically called Population density.
It can be measured by –number, biomass, percentage cover.
Although total number is generally the most appropriate major of population density, but in some cases it is either
meaningless or difficult to determine.

Sometimes for some ecological investigations, there is no need to know the absolute population density. Related population
density can also work. The tiger census in our national parks and tiger reserves is often based on pug marks and fecal pellets.

So, if N is the population density at time t, then its density at time t +1 is:
Nt+1 = Nt + [(B + I) – (D + E)]

*Under normal condition, birth and death are most important factors.
* But a new habitat is just being colonized. Immigration may contribute more significantly than birth.

GROWTH MODELS – The characteristic pattern of growth of a population with time is called growth model.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH MODEL (geometric) LOGISTIC GROWTH (Vernulst –pearl logistic growth model)
Unlimited food and space. Growth will be exponential Limited food and space.
J shaped curve S shape curve (sigmoid)
dN/dt= rN dN/dt= rN[(K-N)/K]

r= b-d ( intrinsic rate of natural increase)(birth rate- death rate) K= carrying capacity (maximum no. of species that can be supported
N = population size in a habitat)
Integral form of equation This growth model is more realistic as it considers resources are
Nt= Noert limited.
e= base of natural logarithms (2.71828)
Nt = Population density after time t
N0 = Population density at time zero
r = intrinsic rate of natural increase
More ‘r” more natural selection
r value of Norway rat= 0.015 (1.5%)
r value of flour beetle= 0.12 (12%)
r value of humans (1981 in India)= 0.0205 (2%)
Q. A population of 80 fish is growing at the maximum rate of 0.35. Predict the size of the population after 1 generation.
N= 80
r= 0.35
dN/dt= rx N= 28 ;
size of population =80+28= 108 fishes

Q. A population of 80 fish living in a pond with a carrying capacity of 150 is growing at a maximum rate of 0.35. Predict the size of the
population after one generation.
dN/dt= rN[(K-N)/K)]
dN/dt= 0.35* 80 (0.467)
dN/dt= 13
size of population = 80+13= 93 fishes

(PYQ) Q. Study the graph given below and answer the questions that follow.

(a) Write the status of food and space in the curves, a and b.
(b) In the absence of predators, which one of the two curves would appropriately depict the prey population?
(c) Time has shown on X axis and there is a parallel dotted line above it. Gave the significance of this dotted line.

Q. What happens to a population, when population density is equal to carrying capacity. (N=K)

Life history variation- Population evolve to maximize their fitness/ Darwinian fitness ( high r value).
Reproductive strategies-
Breed once in lifetime- Pacific salmon, bamboo.
Breed multiple times --birds and mammals.
Produce large number of small sized offsprings-- Oyster, pelagic fish (occupy upper layers of ocean).
Produce small number of large sized offsprings-- birds and mammals.