Population biology

Population biology

POPULATION BIOLOGY

Everything is connected on earth- states the first law of ecology.  Meaning that we cant even make one step without disruption the environment. Even a usual step on the lawn is tens of ruined microorganisms and scared insects that might be changing their migration paths and reducing their natural efficiency. During the last century humans have gotten to be alarmed about the destiny of the planet, however, when we stepped into this century, we have stepped into the ecological crisis that we ourselves created.

Environmental contamination, exhaustion of natural resources and infringements of ecological communications in ecosystems became global problems. And if the mankind will continue to continue obusing environment, its death is inevitable.

Now, during an approaching ecological crisis on the planet, it is necessary for us to cooperate and preserve nature. 

By consuming natural resources more intensively human beings have progressed and improved conditions of development and the growth of Homo sapiens as a biological species. However, by "winning" the nature, we have created almost crisis situation in interaction between the person and the nature, fraught with greater dangers to the future of our civilization. It could be clearly seen in the problems with natural resources, power, quality of an environment in its communication with the further industrial development in the world and growth of the population. Interdependent changes have led to occurrence of new communications between global economy and global ecology. In the past we were alarmed about  the consequences of an economic growth for an environment. Now we can not simply ignore the consequences of " ecological stress " – the deterioration of grounds, a water polution, a condition of an atmosphere and forests.

Now becomes more clear, that sources and the reasons of pollution are much more various,  complex and interconnected, and consequences of pollution carry wider, cumulative and chronic character, than it was considered earlier. Science has already given a definition of anthropogenous environmental contamination. It is physical, chemical and biological change of the quality of an environment (atmospheric air, waters, ground) as a result of the economic or other activity, exceeding the established specifications of harmful influence on an environment and creating threat to health of the person and to the conditions of flora and fauna.

The practical output of ecology can be first seen in making the decisions in the questions of wildlife management; it should create a scientific basis of operation of natural resources. We can ascertain, that neglect of  the laws underlying natural processes has led to the serious conflict between the person and the nature.

CONCEPT OF THE POPULATION

Population ecology is defined as group of organisms of one kind (inside of which individual can exchange the genetic information), occupying concrete space and functioning as a part biotic community.

The population is a set of individuals of one kind living in certain territory, freely crossed among themselves and it is partially or completely isolated from other populations.

The population has its own characteristics: number, its density, spatial distribution of individuals. It could be distinguished by age, sexual and dimensional structure. 

Structure. It is possible to allocate three ecological age groups: prereproductive - group of individuals, which age has not reached ability of reproduction; reproductive - the group reproducing new individual; postreproductive - the individuals who have lost ability to participate in reproduction of new generations. Duration of these ages in relation to the general life expectancy strongly varies between different organisms.

Number and density express quantitative characteristics of a population as the whole. Number of a population is expressed by number of individuals of the given kind living on the unit of the area borrowed by it. Dynamics of the population numbers  in time is defined by a parity of parameters of birth rate, death rate, survival rate which in turn are defined by conditions of life.

The density of a population is the size of population dependant upon the space taken by it:  number of individuals, or biomass, of the population per unit of an area or volume. The density depends on a trophic level on which there is a population. The lower a trophic level, the higher the density.

Many species under those conditions are able to only have males or females, or sometimes unable to reproduce at all. In plant louses, for example, generations consisting from one females replace each other in the summer. Under adverse conditions only males are born. In some molluscs, worms, fishes and crustations changes in sex occur with age.

FEATURES OF POPULATIONS

So, what are the conditions of birth and death ratios depend upon? They are dependant upon  many factors from the outside, and also from its own properties. An objective parameter of an ability of organisms to increase the number is the maximal speed of a population gain. This parameter is inversely proportional to the life expectancies of organisms. It is easy to be convinced of it, having addressed to the hyperbolic dependence between congenital speed of increase in number of a population and the average time of generation expressed in days (fig. 1). Smaller organisms have higher values rтах, than larger ones, that explains shorter time of generation. The reason of this correlation is clear, because it takes more time for a larger organism to grow. The delay in reproduction also inevitably leads to the reduction of  rтах.

Nevertheless the advantages in having a larger sizes of a body, should exceed the lacks that have to do  with reduction of rтах, otherwise large organisms would never appear in evolution. The tendency to increase the body size with the flow of the geological time, tracked on fossils, has formed the basis for introduction of the phyletic size concept.

Larger body sizes give abundantly clear advantages: larger organism should attract less potential predators and, hence, it has more chances to not become a prey and should differ with the best survival rate; smaller organisms are in close dependence on the physical environment, and even little changes can appear to be deadly to them. It is easier for larger organisms to adapt to the surroundings and therefore they are better protected.  However larger organisms require more food and energy per one individual in unit of time, than smaller ones. Besides less safer places exist for them.

There are three periods in the life of an organism: prereproductive, reproductive and postreproductive. Relative duration of each varies. The first period is the longest in many animals. A very good example of this are mayflies, which prereproductive period  reaches up to 3 years, and reproductive period takes only from 2-3 hours to a day. American cicada takes 17 years. But there are species in which individuals start to reproduce intensively once they are born (the majority of bacteria).

Reproductive opportunities of  population depend on its life expectancy. Life expectancy of individuals of a population can be estimated, using curve survivals. There are three types of  survival curves(fig. 2).

First type (curve 1) corresponds to the situation when most individuals have identical life expectancy and die during a very short interval of time. Curves are characterized by the strong convex form. Such curve survivals are peculiar to the person (fig. 2, 1), however, the survival curve  for men in comparison with the one for women is less convex, therefore an insurance policy for men in the majority of the countries in the West is 1,5 times is more expensive, than for women. For the majority of hoofed animals, survival curve is also convex (fig. 3), however, it is dependant upon the sex of the species. The second type (fig. 2, 2) is peculiar to the kinds which mortality rate coefficient remains constants during all their life. Therefore the survival curve is transformed to a direct line. Such form of the survival curve is peculiar to a fresh-water hydra. The third type (fig. 2, 3) is represented by strongly concaved curves, reflecting high death rate of an individuals at early age. So that is how the life expectancy for some birds, fishes, and also many invertebrates is characterized.

 The knowledge the survival curve types enables us to construct a pyramid of age (fig. 4). It is necessary to distinguish three types of such pyramids. The pyramid with the wide base that corresponds to high percent of growth of the young,  is characteristic for a population with great value of factor of birth rate. The average type of the pyramid corresponds to the uniform distribution of the individuals based on age in a population with the balanced factors of birth rate and death rate – a leveled  pyramid. The pyramid with the narrow base, corresponds to the  populations with numerical prevalence of old individuals over young growth, is characteristic for reduced populations. In such populations the mortality rate coefficient exceeds factor of birth rate.

The important factor in the change of the population numbers is the parity of sexes. It is seldom equals to one, as in most cases one of the sexes prevails over another. In vertebrates,  males are born more often then females. In  ducks males often numerically prevail over females as well.

It is also important to calculate the energy and resources spent on reproduction in the population.  Not all offsprings are equivalent: those of them which are born at the end of the vegetative season, usually have less chances to live up to an adult condition in comparison with the descendants who have been born earlier.

What are the efforts that parents should spend for each offspring? At a constant reproductive effort, average fitness of a given offspring is connected with the return parity of their number. One extreme tactic of reproduction is to use all the resources to create one large and fit offspring, another is to produce as much offspring as possible and not spend much resources. However the best tactics of reproduction is a compromise between reproduction of a large number of offspring with high fitness.

The quantity and quality of  offspring is illustrated in the graphic model (illustrates fig. 5).

In an improbable case, i. е. in case of linear dependence of offspring fitness  on expenses of their parents, fitness of each separate offspring decreases with increase of a laying size. Because the  fitness of parents or, that the same, the general fitness of all offspring is a constant, the optimum size of a laying does not exist, that is believed by the parent. However, initial parental care has greater contribution to fitness of offspring, than the next ones (5-shaped character of dependence of fitness of descendants takes place at increase in the contribution of parents; see fig. 7.6) it is obvious, that there exists some optimal size of a laying. In the given hypothetical case the parents spending only 20 % of the reproductive effort to each of their five descendants, will receive greater feedback from the contribution, than at any other size of a laying. Similar tactics, being optimum for parents, are not the best for each separately taken descendant which maximal fitness that is reached in the event that the unique offspring who has received the full contribution of efforts from the parents. Hence, we get " the conflict of parents and children ".

Competitive conditions are a big influence on the S-shaped curve. In strongly rarefied environment (competitive vacuum) it is necessary to consider maximal contributions of  energy  for the production of maximum offspring in the shortest time possible.  Because the competition is insignificant, descendants can survive, even if they are very small in size and have low fitness. However in the sated inhabitancy where effects of weight are noticeably shown, and the competition is high, optimum strategy would be to spend plenty of energy on competition, increase of own survival rate and on the production of more competitive descendants. It is best  to have large descendants but since they are so costly, only few can be brought to life.

 So, properties of a population can be estimated on such parameters such as birth rate, death rate, age structure, parity of sexes, frequency of genes, genetic variety, speed and the form of a curve of growth, etc.

The density of  population is defined by its internal properties, and is also dependant on the outside factors of this population.

FACTORS OF DYNAMICS OF NUMBER OF POPULATIONS

There are three types of dependence of  population from its density (fig. 6). In the first type (curve 1) growth rate of a population decreases in process of increase in density. This widespread phenomenon allows us to understand, why populations of some animals are rather steady. First of all, as the density of a population increases, decrease in the birth rate is observed. So, in a population of a big titmouse at a density of less than one pair per 1 hectares on one jack 14 nestlings are necessary; when the density reaches 18 pairs per 1 hectares, offspring is less than 8 nestlings. Secondly, as the density of a population increases, the age maturity changes.. For example, the African elephant depending on the density of a population can reach sexual maturity between the age of  12 -18 years. Besides at low a density it breeds 1 baby per 4 years whereas at high density - birth rate makes it 1 baby per 7 years.

In the second type of dependence (a curve 2) growth rate  of a population is maximal at average, instead of at low values of density. So, some kinds of birds (for example, seagulls) the number of nestlings increases with the increase of population density, and then, having reached the greatest size, it starts to decrease. This type of influence of the population on the  speed of duplication of individuals is characteristic for kinds at which the group effect is noted. In the third type (curve 3) the rate of growth of a population does not change until it will not reach its highest density, then it sharply falls.

The similar picture is observed, for example, with lemmings. At the peak of their number the density of lemmings becomes superfluous, and they start to migrate. Elton has described migrations of lemmings in Norway: animals have passed through villages in such quantities, that dogs and cats which in the beginning attacked them, have simply ceased to notice them. Having reached the seas, weak lemmings simply died.

 Regulation of the numbers of equilibrium populations is defined mainly by biotic factors. The primary factor are often appear to be intraspecific competition. An example of this could be  struggle of birds for nesting.

Intraspecific competition can cause the physiological effect also known as shock illness. It can be noted in  rodents. When the density of a population becomes too big, shock illness leads to decrease in fruitfulness and increase in death rate that returns density of a population to its normal level.

Some adult species eat their offspring. This phenomenon is known as cannibalism, which reduces numbers of  population.  For example, cannibalism can be traced in  perches: in the lakes of Western Siberia,  80 % of grown perches eat young offspring of the same kind. Young offspring, in turn, eats  plankton. Thus, when there is no other kinds of fish, adult individuals feed off plankton.

Interspecific interactions also play an essential role in the control of density of a population. Interactions such as paracite-owner and  predator-victim are often density dependant. Illnesses are also a factor in the regulation of population density. When rabbits are ill with a virus, the infection spreads faster in the heavily dense population.

Predatoriness as the limiting factor is of a  great importance. And if the influence of a prey on a number of a predator population does not cause doubts, the return influence, i. е. Influence on the prey population, doesn’t always happen. First of all, the predator kills sick animals, by doing so it improves the average qualitative structure of the prey’s population. Secondly, a role of a predator is heavily weighted only when both of  kinds possess approximately identical biotic potential. Otherwise because of low reproduction rate,  predator is not able to limit the number of prey. For example, only one insectivorous birds cannot stop mass production of insects. In other words, if biotic potential of a predator is much lower of  the biotic potential of a prey, actions of a predator inherit constant character, not dependent upon the  density of its population.

The resulted differentiation of factors of dynamics of number of populations allows us to understand their real value in  life and reproduction of populations. The modern concept of automatic control of number of populations is based on a combination of two essentially various phenomena: modifications, or casual fluctuations of number, and regulations, operating by a principle of a cybernetic feedback and levelling fluctuations. According to this modifying (populations independent of density) and adjusting (populations depending on density) ecologic factors are allocated, and first ones influence organisms inderectly or through changes of other components biosenosis. Actually, modifying factors represent various abiotic factors. Adjusting factors are connected with existence and activity of alive organisms (biotic factors), because only live creatures are capable to react to the density of its population and populations of other kinds base on the principle of a negative feedback (fig. 7).

For example, the predators-polyphages, which are able to weaken or strengthen their reaction based upon the prey’s numbers-functional reaction- they usually act when the pre’s population is low.  Predators - oligophages, unlike polyphages, they are characterized by the  numerical reaction of a population of a victim, have an effect in a wider range, than polyphaes. Once the prey population reaches higher number, the conditions for distribution of illnesses occur, and, at last, the limiting factor of regulation - the intraspecific competition leading to limiting of accessible resources and development of stressful reactions in a population of a victim are created. Fig. 8 illustrates the iterative buffer system of regulation of the number of a population under influence of biotic factors, which degree of influence depends on density of a population. In a real life situation the given parameter depends on the large number of factors, particularly those that do not render adjusting influence on density of a population by a principle of a feedback. Interaction between modifying, adjusting, and such specific factors, as the sizes of a body, groups and individual site, at their influence on density of a population of mammals it is shown on fig. 9.

So in order to receive exhaustive information on what factors cause fluctuations of number, data about physical and chemical conditions, security resources, life cycle of these organisms and influence of competitors, predators, parasites, etc. is necessary to know, how all these factors influence birth rate, death rate and migration. All populations continuously change: new organisms are born or arrive as immigrants, and former perish or will emigrate. Despite of it, fluctuations of the size of a population are not boundless. On the one hand, it cannot grow endlessly, and on the other hand - kinds seldom enough die out. Hence, one of the basic attributes of population dynamics is a combination of changes to relative stability. Thus fluctuations of the sizes of populations strongly differ with different kinds of species.

Individuals in a population cooperate among themselves, providing the ability to live and steadily reproduce. In animals leading a “batchelor” life style  or creating families, the adjusting factor is territory,  which influences possession of certain food resources and is of great importance for reproduction. The individual protects space from intrusion and allows individuals in only during reproduction.

The most rational use of space is reached in the event that every other species is expelled from the territory. This way, the owner of a site psychologically dominates over it, it is enough for the  exile to demonstrate threats, prosecution, the greatest – false attacks which stop on the borders of a site. In the given animals individual distinctions between individuals have huge value.

In animals leading a group way of life and forming flights, herds, colonies, group protection against enemies and joint care about posterity raises survival rate of individuals that influences number of a population and its survival rate. Given animals are organized hierarchically. Hierarchical attitudes are constructed in such a way that the rank of everyone is known by everyone. As a rule, the maximum rank belongs to the senior male. The hierarchy controlls all interactions inside  a population: marriage, individuals of different age, parents and posterity. In animals the special role is given to  "mother-child" relationships. Parents transfer the genetic information and the information about an environment to the offspring

SPATIAL ACCOMMODATION OF POPULATIONS

At a level of a population abiotic factors influence such parameters as birth rate, death rate, average life expectancy of the individual, growth rate of a population and its sizes, quite often being the major reasons defining character of dynamics of number of a population and spatial distribution of individuals in it. The population can adapt to changes of abiotic factors, first, changing character of the spatial distribution and, secondly, by adaptive evolution.

The selective attitude of animals and plants to factors of environment generates selectivity to habitats, i. е. ecological specialization in relation to sites of an area of a kind which it tries to occupy. The choice is defined by such factors; it can be based on acidity, salinity, humidity, etc.

For some kinds zone the change of habitat is characterized by zone, it would change habitats from one zone to the other.

            One of the important factors in changing habitats is humidity factor.

Wood lice are a very good example of it. They live on the sea coasts where air is rich with moisture, and where they can  live openly. In high-mountainous areas with dry air,  wood lice spend most of their time under stones and a bark of trees.

Wood louse Lygia oceanica lives on the sea coast. Day time of a wood louse is spent in the shelter. But when the temperature of air raises up to 20 °с outside and up to 30 °с under a pebble, they leave the shelters and creep out on the rocks turned to the sun. The reason of such moving is that the given kind is very badly adapted for a ground habitat, has very thin cuticle.

When humidity of air is low, wood louse loses a lot of water by evaporation, which occurs on the rocks under the sun. Intensive evaporation reduces  body temperature of an animal which at its finding on a rock is equal 26 °с (fig. 11). If, the wood louse continues to hide under a pebble where relative humidity is close to 100 %, and evaporation is equal to zero, then the body temperature reaches 30 °с.

Another important factors is acidity. Sour waters of turbaries promote development of mosses, but they have absolutely no  folding mollusks population in them. Other kinds of moluscs are extremely, and this has to do with the absence of  lime in it. Fishes bear acidity of water within the limits of Pн from 5 up to 9.At Pн below 5 it is possible to observe their mass destruction, though separate kinds adapt and to the surroundings, value of which  reaches up to 3,7. The efficiency of  fresh waters having acidity less 5, is sharply lowered, that entails significant reduction of fishe.

Other important factor limiting distribution of water animals and plants is salinity of water. Many types such as sponges and worms live in the sea.

Often only insignificant shifts in concentration of salts in water affect distribution of closely related kinds (fig. 12). Number of inhabitants of salt waters is very great, but  kinds of species that live in it structure is poor. For example, lake with the salinity ranging from 2  to 7 %  is inhibited by fresh-water fishes, such as a carp, pike, pike perch that are quite well adapted to low salinity, and sea fishes, such as mullet which is tolerant to insufficient salinity.

Abiotic factors render essential influence on density of populations of animals and plants. Downturn of temperature often catastrophically affects populations of animals: in the areas adjoining to northern borders of an area, the kind can become rare and even disappear completely. Besides, frosts in some cases influence food as well, because it is being concealled under a thick layer of an ice or a snow, and it becomes absolutely inaccessible to animals. In the places subject to strong winds, growth of plants starts late, and the fauna can be partially or is completely destroyed.

CONCLUSION

Question on how evolution occurs in ecosystems, it is very important, because it is  a key to understanding of an existing variety of communities of live organisms on our planet, changes of flora and fauna during its geological history. In a basis of evolution lies  the natural selection.  But natural selection plays a very  important role at a level of ecosystems. It can be subdivided into mutual selection of autotrophs, that are dependent upon each other and heterotrophs and group selection which conducts to preservation of the attributes favorable for ecosystems as a whole even if they are adverse for specific carriers of these attributes.

There are the uncountable ways allowing victims to resist to pressure of predators. They can be reduced to following categories: protective behaviour (flight, затаивание, use of refuges and т. Item), the protective form and painting (patronizing, frightening off, warning, a mimicry), inedibility or ядовитость (it is usual in a combination to warning painting), parental and social behaviour (protection the posterities warning signals, joint protection of group and т. Item).

Protective means of plants include: rigid leaves, thorns and prickles, ядовитость, репеллентные and ингибирующие a feed of animals of substance. Predators and other "exploiters" have not less refined ways to overtake a victim. We shall recollect, for example, public hunting behaviour of lions and the wolves, the bent poisonous teeth of snakes, long sticky languages of frogs, toads and lizards, and also spiders and their web, a deep-water fish-Òñ¿½ýÚ¿¬á or boas, which душат the victims.

The fauna, being a component of an environment, acts as the integral part in circuits of the ecological systems, a necessary component during circulation of substances and energy of the nature, actively influencing on functioning of natural communities, structure and natural fertility почв, formation of a vegetative cover, biological properties of water and quality of an environment as a whole, At the same time the fauna has the big economic value.

Feature of fauna is that the given object is renewed, but for this purpose observance of the certain conditions, direct connected with animal protection is necessary. At destruction, infringement of conditions of their existence the certain kinds of animals can finally disappear, and their renewal will be impossible.

In the Federal law traditional methods of protection and use of objects of fauna are stipulated. Persons, whose existence and incomes are in full or in part based on traditional life-support systems, including hunting, fishery and collecting, have the right to application of traditional methods of getting of objects of fauna and products of ability to live, if such methods directly or indirectly do not conduct to decrease in a biological variety, do not reduce number and steady reproduction of objects of fauna, do not break environment of their dwelling and do not represent danger to the person. The specified persons can carry out this right both individually, and collectively, creating associations on a various basis (family, patrimonial, territorially-economic communities, the unions of hunters, collectors, fishers and others).