Download Ecological Concepts Carrying Capacity

Carrying Capacity
 The maximum number of individuals of a particular
species that an ecosystem can support.
 Once a population reaches the carrying capacity, a
variety of factors act to stabilize it at that size.
 Birth rate=death rate;
immigration= emigration
Limiting Factors
 A factor that controls the growth of a population
 Several Kinds (competition, predation, parasitism,
disease, natural disasters, unusual weather)
 Acting together or separately, limiting factors
determine the carrying capacity of a population
 Limiting factors keep most natural populations
somewhere between extinction and over running
the planet.
How do organisms depend
on each other?
 Symbiosis
 Any relationship in which two species live close
together
 Symbiosis= “Living together”
There are 3 Main classes of symbiotic relationships:
1. Mutualism
2. Parasitism
3. Commensalism
Mutualism
 Both organisms will benefit from this relationship
 Ex -Bacteria in our gut
 +, +
Parasitism
 When one organism lives inside or on another
organism and harms it
 The parasite obtains all or part of it nutritional needs
from the host
 Parasites generally weaken, but do not kill their
hosts
 Ex-tapeworms, fleas, ticks, lice, leeches
 +, -
Commensalism
 A relationship in which one organism benefits and
the other is neither helped or harmed
 +, 0
 Barnacles on a whale