population ecology

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Wolves affect ecology

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​Populations of animals interact: wolves affect deer population, deer affect plant population deer also affect tick population.  Predatory birds such as owls affect rodent population and rodent population affects tick population.

Less deer/ less rodents means less Lyme Disease

Climate change also affects population interactions, a later start of winter can lead ticks to kill a moose, even without disease
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Population: A group of organisms of the same species living and interacting in a particular area 

Ecology: the study of the interactions between organisms, and between organisms and their non-living environment. 

Community: interacting populations of different species in a defined habitat

Ecosystem: the living organisms in an area and the nonliving components of the environment with which they interact.

Distribution pattern: the way organisms are distributed in a space. Depends on resources and interactions with other members of the population.
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Growth Rate: the difference between the birth rate of a given population and the death rate of a given population, also known as the rate of natural increase.

Exponential Growth: the unrestricted growth of a population increasing at a constant growth rate.

Carrying Capacity: The maximum population size that a given environment or habitat can support given its food supply or other natural resources. 

Logistic Growth: A pattern of growth that starts off fast and then levels off as the population reaches the carrying capacity of the environment. 
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factors that affect population growth

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Exponential Growth equation starts at 5:45

The Fibonacci sequence begins with the numbers 0 and 1. ...

​0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144

Fibonacci sequence first appears in the book Liber Abaci (1202) by Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci.

​Fibonacci considers the growth of an idealized (biologically unrealistic) rabbit population, assuming that:
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1. a single newly born pair of rabbits (one male, one female) are put in a field;
2. rabbits are able to mate at the age of one month so that at the end of its second month a female can produce another pair of rabbits;
3. rabbits never die and a mating pair always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on.

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http://www.oxfordmathcenter.com/drupal7/node/487

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algorithm

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A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.

Population Growth Algorithm is a forecasting Algorithm that may be used for predicting the Population Growth
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Population Density: the number of organisms per given area. 

Density-Dependent Factor:  factor whose influence on population size and growth depends on the number and crowding of individuals in the population
(for example, predation) 

• Lead to carrying capacity

Density Independent Factor: chance, a factor that can influence a population size and growth regardless of the numbers and crowding within a population (weather)

Biotic Factors: refers to the living components of an environment

• Food is an example

Abiotic Factors: refers to nonliving components of an environment

• such as temperature and precipitation 

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