biology

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5-2 Limits to Growth

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Limiting Factors

What factors limit population growth?

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Limiting Factors

Limiting Factors
The primary productivity of an ecosystem can be
reduced when there is an insufficient supply of a
particular nutrient.
Ecologists call such substances limiting nutrients.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Limiting Factors

A limiting nutrient is an example of a more general

ecological concept: a limiting factor.
In the context of populations, a limiting factor is a
factor that causes population growth to decrease.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Density-Dependent Factors
A limiting factor that depends on population size is
called a density-dependent limiting factor.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Density-dependent limiting factors include:

• competition
• predation
• parasitism
• disease

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Density-dependent factors operate only when the

population density reaches a certain level. These
factors operate most strongly when a population is
large and dense.
They do not affect small, scattered populations as
greatly.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Competition

When populations become crowded, organisms

compete for food, water space, sunlight and other
essentials.
Competition among members of the same species
is a density-dependent limiting factor.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Competition can also occur between members of

different species.
This type of competition can lead to evolutionary
change.
Over time, the species may evolve to occupy different
niches.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Predation

Populations in nature are often controlled by

predation.
The regulation of a population by predation takes
place within a predator-prey relationship, one of the
best-known mechanisms of population control.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Wolf and Moose Populations on Isle Royale

Moose Wolves

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Dependent Factors

Parasitism and Disease

Parasites can limit the growth of a population.

A parasite lives in or on another organism (the host)
and consequently harms it.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Independent Factors

Density-Independent Factors
Density-independent limiting factors affect all
populations in similar ways, regardless of the
population size.

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 5-2 Limits to Growth Density-Independent Factors

Examples of density-independent limiting

factors include:
• unusual weather
• natural disasters
• seasonal cycles
• certain human activities—such as
damming rivers and clear-cutting forests

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5-2

Continue to: Click to Launch:

- or -

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5-2

A limiting factor that affects all populations in

similar ways regardless of their size might be
a. drought.
b. disease.
c. predation.
d. crowding.

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5-2

Which of the following would be a limiting factor

affecting the panda population of China?
a. programs that educate people about
endangered species
b. capture of some pandas for placement in
zoos
c. laws protecting habitat destruction
d. a disease that kills bamboo plants

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5-2

Density-dependent factors operate most strongly

when a population is
a. large and dense.
b. large but sparse.
c. small and sparse.
d. small, but growing.

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Within a limited area, if the population of a
predator increases, the population of its prey is
likely to
a. increase.
b. decrease.
c. remain about the same.
d. become extinct.

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5-2

Which of the following is a density-independent

factor affecting populations?
a. predation
b. disease
c. a destructive hurricane
d. parasites

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END OF SECTION