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HES: CHAPTER 8 Study Guide –
POPULATION DYNAMICS, CARRYING CAPACITY, AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
“We cannot command nature
except by obeying her.”
~Sir Francis Bacon
8-1 Population Dynamics and Carrying Capacity
1. What are population dynamics?
2. What are four (4) ways populations change in response to stress or changes in environmental
conditions?
3. What four (4) variables govern changes in population size?
4. Write an equation showing how population change is related to births, deaths, immigration, and
emigration.
5. What is the biotic potential of a population?
6. What are four (4) characteristics of a population with a high intrinsic rate of increase (r)?
7. What is environmental resistance?
8. What is carrying capacity?
9. How do biotic potential and environmental resistance interact to determine carrying capacity?
10. List four (4) factors that can alter an area’s carrying capacity.
11. Distinguish between exponential and logistic growth of a population. Give an example of each
type.
12. How can a population overshoot its carrying capacity? What are the consequences of doing this?
13. Distinguish between density-dependent and density-independent factors that affect a
population’s size.
14. Determine if each of the following is density-dependent (DD) or density-independent (DI):
a. ________ flood
b. ________ bubonic plague
c. ________ competition for resources
d. ________ fire
e. ________ pesticide spraying
f. ________ clear cutting a forest
g. ________ disease
h. ________ predation
i. ________ hurricane
j. ________ parasitism
15. What are the four (4) types of population fluctuations?
16. Indicate what type of population fluctuation is being described below:
a. __________________ The population sizes of some species change irregularly for mostly
unknown reasons.
b. __________________ The population size of a species with a fairly unchanging population
fluctuates slightly above and below its carrying capacity.
c. __________________ The population undergoes sharp increases in size, followed by crashes
over fairly regular time intervals.
d. __________________ The populations of some species may occasionally explode to a high
peak and then crash to a more stable lower level.
8-2 Connections: The Role of Predation in Controlling Population Size
17. Differentiate between the top-down control hypothesis and the bottom-up control hypothesis.
8-3 Reproductive Patterns and Survival
18. What are the two types of reproduction that can pass genes on to offspring?
19. Use the chart below to differentiate between the two types of reproduction.
Asexual Reproduction
Sexual Reproduction
20. What are three (3) risks/problems associated with sexual reproduction?
21. Why is sexual reproduction important? (give 2 reasons)
22. What are the two (2) fundamental reproductive patterns?
23. List the characteristics of the two patterns.
r-Selected
Example:
24. What does a survivorship curve show/represent?
k-Selected
Example: