Download Population Fluctuations

NATURAL
POPULATION
FLUCTUATIONS
Delaney Atkinson
What is it?
Natural population fluctuations
are what determines the
amount of species or resources
in an environment.
Some examples:
•
Large or lesser amounts of food
•
Disease outbreaks
•
Climate change or devastations
•
Good or bad weather
•
Lack of space- exceeding
carrying capacity
How population of the prey affects the population of the
predators depending on limiting factors.
Carrying
Capacity
The maximum number of
organisms that can be
sustained by available
resources over a given
amount of time.
Increased population
creates competition for
food, which means a
decrease in nutrition.
That leads to a decrease
in an individuals growth
and reproductive success.
Competition arises when a population exceeds
carrying capacity.
Stronger organisms survive, while the weaker
ones die off or risk death by relocating.
POLAR
BEAR VS.
SEAL
A polar bear’s most popular prey is the
seal. They rely on their hunting skills and
the seal’s population to survive. However,
other factors affect the population of the
seals and the polar bears. Everyone has
heard of global warming, well this is
affecting the bear and seal’s way of life.
Global warming causes a negative
population fluctuation for the Arctic. The
polar bear relies on the ice to travel and
hunt on, but as the ice continues to melt,
the polar bear struggles to catch seals
because they stalk above the water on the
ice. The less nourishing seals they have to
eat, the more the polar bear’s population
will decline.
LYNX VS. HARE
Reasons for increasing:
Spikes in population for the hare can be caused by
nourishing weather for plants to grow for them to
thrive off of. The increased availability of prey for the
lynx causes better reproduction of the lynx
population.
Reasons for decreasing:
Declinement of the hare can be caused by climate
change, disease, or a bad weather season that would
cause adapting issues, kill the hare’s food, ruin their
homes, or force them to leave. As a result of the
lowering of hare population, the lynx has less prey to
live off of causing them to die off and they can also
be affected by the environment issues.
Works Cited
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3084066/
http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo9780199830060-0061.xml
https://www.britannica.com/topic/population-fluctuation