ORGANISMS AND POPULATIONS MATERIAL

POPULATIONS
Population Attributes

In nature, we rarely find isolated, single individuals of any species. Majority of them live in groups in a
well defined geographical area, share or compete for similar resources, potentially interbreed and
thus constitute a population.
Interbreeding implies sexual reproduction. A group of individuals resulting from even asexual
reproduction is also generally considered a population for the purpose of ecological studies.
All the cormorants (medium-to-large birds) in a wetland, rats in an abandoned dwelling, teakwood
trees in a forest tract, bacteria in a culture plate and lotus plants in a pond, are some examples of a
population.
At the population level natural selection operates to evolve the desired traits. Population ecology links
ecology to population genetics and evolution.
A population has certain attributes whereas, an individual organism does not. An individual may have
births and deaths, but a population has birth rates and death rates. In a population these rates refer to
per capita births and deaths.
If in a pond there were 20 lotus plants last year and through reproduction 8 new plants are added,
taking the current population to 28, we calculate the birth rate as 8/20 = 0.4 offspring per lotus per
year.
Another attribute characteristic of a population is sex ratio. An individual is either a male or a female
but a population has a sex ratio.
A population at any given time is composed of individuals of different ages. If the age distribution (per
cent individuals of a given age or age group) is plotted for the population, the resulting structure is called
an age pyramid. For human population, the age pyramids generally show age distribution of males
and females in a diagram. The shape of the pyramids reflects the growth status of the population i.e.
• (a) growing or expanding ( shape of age pyramid is triangular shape)
• (b) stable (shape of age pyramid is bell shape)
• (c) declining (shape of age pyramid is urn shape)

The size of population, could be as low as less than 10 (Siberian cranes at Bharatpur wetlands in any year)
or go into millions (Chlamydomonas in a pond).
Population size, technically called population density (designated as N), need not necessarily be
measured in numbers only.
Although total number is generally the most appropriate measure of population density. In some cases
number is either meaningless or difficult to determine. In an area, if there are 200 carrot grass
(Parthenium hysterophorus) plants but only a single huge banyan tree with a large canopy, stating that
the population density of banyan is low relative to that of carrot grass (if number is considered as
density). Banyan tree has enormous role than carrot grass. In such cases, the per cent cover or biomass
is a more meaningful measure of the population size.
Sometimes, for certain ecological investigations, there is no need to know the absolute population
densities. Relative densities serve the purpose equally well.
For instance, the number of fish caught per trap is good enough measure of its total population density in
the lake. We are mostly obliged to estimate population sizes indirectly, without actually counting them or
seeing them. The tiger census in our national parks and tiger reserves is often based on pug marks
(footprint) and faecal pellets.

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Population Growth
The size of a population for any species is not a static parameter. It keeps changing with time,
depending on various factors including food availability, predation pressure and adverse
weather. The changes in population density give some idea of what is happening to the population –
whether it is flourishing (increasing) or declining.
Population fluctuates in four basic processes, two of which (natality and immigration) contribute to
an increase in population density and two (mortality and emigration) to a decrease.

(i) Natality (B) refers to the number of births during a given period in the population that are added
to the initial density.
(ii) Mortality (D) is the number of deaths in the population during a given period.
(iii) Immigration (I) is the number of individuals of the same species that have come into the
habitat from elsewhere during the time period under consideration.
(iv) Emigration (E) is the number of individuals of the population who left the habitat and gone
elsewhere during the time period under consideration.

So, if Nt is the population density at time t, then its density at time t +1 is

Nt+1 = Nt + [(B + I) – (D + E)]

Population density will increase if the number of births plus the number of immigrants (B + I) is
more than the number of deaths plus the number of emigrants (D + E) i.e. (B + I) > (D + E).
Under normal conditions, births and deaths are the most important factors influencing
population density, the other two factors assuming importance only under special conditions.
For instance, if a new habitat is just being colonised, immigration may contribute more
significantly to population growth than birth rates. Here emigration has less role as compared to
immigration.

Growth Models

(i) Exponential growth

Ideally, when resources in the habitat are unlimited, each species has the ability to realise fully its
innate potential to grow in number, as Darwin observed while developing his theory of natural
selection. Then the population grows in an exponential or geometric fashion.
If in a population of size N,
the birth rates (not total number but per capita births) are represented as b,
the death rates (not total number per capita death rates) are represented as d,
then the increase or decrease in N during a unit time period t (dN/dt) will be
dN/dt = (b – d) × N
Let (b–d) = r, then
dN/dt = rN
The ‘r’ in this equation is called the ‘intrinsic rate of natural increase’ and is a very important
parameter chosen for assessing impacts of any biotic or abiotic factor on population growth.
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For the Norway rat the r is 0.015, and for the flour beetle it is 0.12. In 1981, the r value for human
population in India was 0.0205.
In geometric growth pattern of a population, a J-shaped curve is obtained when we plot N in relation to
time. Integrating dN/dt = rN, we get -
Nt = N0 ert

Where
Nt = Population density after time t
N0 = Population density at time zero
r = intrinsic rate of natural increase
e = the base of natural logarithms (2.71828)

Any species growing exponentially under unlimited resource conditions can reach enormous population
densities in a short time. Darwin showed how even a slow growing animal like elephant could reach
enormous numbers in the absence of checks.

(ii) Logistic growth

No population of any species in nature has got unlimited resources to permit exponential growth. So
competition is present among individuals for limited resources. Eventually, the ‘fittest’ individual will
survive and reproduce.
The governments of many countries have also realised this fact and introduced various restraints (limit
or control on something) with a view to limit human population growth.
In nature, a given habitat has enough resources to support a maximum possible number, beyond which
no further growth is possible. This limit is nature’s carrying capacity (K) for that species in that
habitat.
A population growing in a habitat with limited resources show initially a lag phase or slow phase,
followed by phases of acceleration or log phase and deceleration or negative acceleration phase and
finally an asymptote or steady phase, when the population density reaches the carrying capacity.
A plot of N in relation to time (t) results in a sigmoid curve. This type of population growth is called
Verhulst-Pearl Logistic Growth and is described by the following equation:

K−N
dN / dt = rN 
 K 
Where
N = Population density at time t
r = Intrinsic rate of natural increase
K = Carrying capacity

Since resources for growth for most animal populations are finite and become limiting sooner or later, the
logistic growth model is considered a more realistic one.

Life History Variation

Populations evolve to maximize their reproductive fitness, also called Darwinian fitness (high r value), in
the habitat in which they live. Under a particular set of selection pressures, organisms evolve towards the
most efficient reproductive strategy.
Some organisms breed only once in their lifetime (Pacific salmon fish, bamboo) while others breed
many times during their lifetime (most birds and mammals). Some produce a large number of small-
sized offspring (Oysters, pelagic fishes) while others produce a small number of large-sized offspring
(birds, mammals).
Ecologists suggest that life history traits of organisms have evolved in relation to the constraints
(limitations) imposed by the abiotic and biotic components of the habitat in which they live.
Evolution of life history traits in different species is currently an important area of research being
conducted by ecologists.
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Population Interactions

For any species, the minimal requirement is one more species on which it can feed.
Even a plant species, which makes its own food, cannot survive alone as it need soil microbes to
break down the organic matter in soil and return the inorganic nutrients for absorption and
also need animals to manage pollination.
It is obvious that in nature, animals, plants and microbes do not and cannot live in isolation but
interact in various ways to form a biological community.
Interspecific interactions arise from the interaction of populations of two different species. They
could be beneficial, detrimental (not harmful) or neutral (neither harm nor benefit) to one of the
species or both. Assigning a ‘+’ sign for beneficial interaction, ‘-’ sign for detrimental and
‘0’ for neutral interaction.

Both the species benefit in mutualism and both lose in competition in their interactions with each
other.
In both parasitism and predation only one species benefits (parasite and predator, respectively)
and the interaction is harmful to the other species (host and prey, respectively).
The interaction where one species is benefitted and the other is neither benefitted nor harmed is
called commensalism.
In amensalism on the other hand one species is harmed whereas the other is unaffected.
Predation, parasitism and commensalism share a common characteristic– the interacting
species live closely together.

(i) Predation:

A sparrow eating any seed is no less a predator. Although animals eating plants are categorised
separately as herbivores, they are, in a broad ecological context, not very different from predators.
Besides acting as ‘conduits’ for energy transfer across trophic levels, predators play other important
roles. They keep prey populations under control.
When certain exotic species are introduced into a geographical area, they become invasive and start
spreading fast because the invaded land does not have its natural predators.
The prickly pear cactus introduced into Australia in the early 1920’s caused havoc by spreading
rapidly into millions of hectares of rangeland. Finally, the invasive cactus was brought under control
only after a cactus-feeding predator (a moth) from its natural habitat was introduced into the
country.
Biological control methods adopted in agricultural pest control are based on the ability of the
predator to regulate prey population.

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Predators also help in maintaining species diversity in a community, by reducing the intensity of
competition among competing prey species.
In the rocky intertidal communities of the American Pacific Coast the starfish Pisaster is an
important predator. In a field experiment, when all the starfish were removed from an enclosed
intertidal area, more than 10 species of invertebrates became extinct within a year, because of
interspecific competition.
If a predator is too efficient and overexploits its prey, then the prey might become extinct and
following it, the predator will also become extinct for lack of food.
This is the reason why predators in nature are prudent (show care). Prey species have evolved
various defenses to lessen the impact of predation. Some species of insects and frogs are cryptically-
coloured (camouflaged) to avoid being detected easily by the predator. Some are poisonous and
therefore avoided by the predators. The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator
(bird) because of a special chemical present in its body. Interestingly, the butterfly acquires this
chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed.
For plants, herbivores are the predators. Nearly 25 per cent of all insects are known to be
phytophagous (feeding on plant sap and other parts of plants). Plants therefore have evolved
morphological and chemical defenses against herbivores.
Thorns (Acacia, Cactus) are the most common morphological means of defence. Many plants
produce and store chemicals that make the herbivore sick when they are eaten, inhibit feeding or
digestion, disrupt its reproduction or even kill it. The weed Calotropis growing in abandoned fields
produces highly poisonous cardiac glycosides. So cattle or goats never browse on this plant.
A wide variety of chemical substances that we extract from plants on a commercial scale (nicotine,
caffeine, quinine, strychnine, opium, etc.,) are produced by them actually as defences against
grazers and browsers.

(ii) Competition:
When Darwin spoke of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest in nature, he was
convinced that inter-specific competition is a potent force in organic evolution.
It is generally believed that competition occurs when closely related species compete for the same
resources that are limiting, but this is not entirely true.
Firstly, totally unrelated species could also compete for the same resource. For instance, in some
shallow South American lakes, visiting flamingoes and resident fishes compete for their common
food, the zooplankton in the lake.
Secondly, resources need not be limiting for competition to occur. In interference competition,
the feeding efficiency of one species might be reduced due to the interfering and inhibitory presence
of the other species, even if resources (food and space) are abundant.
Therefore, competition is best defined as a process in which the fitness of one species (measured in
terms of its ‘r’ the intrinsic rate of increase) is significantly lower in the presence of another species.
Gause and other experimental ecologists showed that when resources are limited the competitively
superior species will eventually eliminate the other species. The Abingdon tortoise in Galapagos
Islands became extinct within a decade after goats were introduced on the island, apparently due to
the greater browsing efficiency of the goats.
Another evidence for the occurrence of competition in nature comes from what is called ‘competitive
release’. A species, whose distribution is restricted to a small geographical area because of the
presence of a competitively superior species, is found to expand its distributional range dramatically
when the competing species is experimentally removed. Connell’s elegant field experiments showed
that on the rocky sea coasts of Scotland, the larger and competitively superior barnacle Balanus
dominates the intertidal area, and excludes the smaller barnacle Chathamalus from that zone.
In general, herbivores and plants appear to be more adversely affected by competition than
carnivores.

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The mechanism ‘resource partitioning’ takes place when 2 different species compete for the same
resource, they could avoid competition by choosing, for instance, different times for feeding or
different foraging patterns.

(iii) Parasitism:
Many parasites have evolved to be host-specific (they can parasitise only a single species of host) in
such a way that both host and the parasite tend to co-evolve.
If the host evolves special mechanisms for rejecting or resisting the parasite, the parasite has to
evolve mechanisms to counteract and neutralise them.
Parasites evolved special adaptations such as the loss of unnecessary sense organs, presence of
adhesive organs or suckers to cling on to the host, loss of digestive system and high reproductive
capacity.
The human liver fluke (a nematode parasite) depends on two intermediate hosts (a snail and a fish) to
complete its life cycle.
The malarial parasite needs a vector (mosquito) to spread to other hosts.
Majority of the parasites harm the host; they may reduce the survival, growth and reproduction of the
host and reduce its population density. They might render the host more vulnerable to predation by
making it physically weak.
Parasites that feed on the external surface of the host organism are called ectoparasites. The most
familiar examples of this group are the lice on humans and ticks on dogs.
In contrast, endoparasites are those that live inside the host body at different sites (liver, kidney,
lungs, red blood cells, etc.).
Brood parasitism in birds is fascinating examples of parasitism in which the parasitic bird lays its
eggs in the nest of its host and lets the host incubate them. During the course of evolution, the eggs
of the parasitic bird have evolved to resemble the host’s egg in size and colour to reduce the chances
of the host bird detecting the foreign eggs and ejecting them from the nest. Try to follow the
movements of the cuckoo (koel) and the crow in your neighbourhood park during the breeding
season (spring to summer) and watch brood parasitism in action.

(iv) Commensalism:
This is the interaction in which one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor benefited.
An orchid growing as an epiphyte on a mango branch, and barnacles growing on the back of a whale
benefit while neither the mango tree nor the whale derives any apparent benefit.
The cattle egret and grazing cattle in close association, a sight you are most likely to catch if you
live in farmed rural areas, is a classic example of commensalism. The egrets always forage close to
where the cattle are grazing because the cattle, as they move, stir up and flush out insects from the
vegetation that otherwise might be difficult for the egrets to find and catch.

(v) Mutualism:
This interaction confers benefits on both the interacting species.
Lichens represent an intimate mutualistic relationship between a fungus and photosynthesising algae
or cyanobacteria.
Similarly, the mycorrhizae are associations between fungi and the roots of higher plants.
The fungi help the plant in the absorption of essential nutrients from the soil while the plant in turn
provides the fungi with energy-yielding carbohydrates.
The most spectacular and evolutionarily fascinating examples of mutualism are found in plant-
animal relationships. Plants need the help of animals for pollinating their flowers and dispersing their
seeds. Animals obviously have to be paid ‘fees’ for the services that plants expect from them. Plants
offer rewards or fees in the form of pollen and nectar.

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