CH- 11 ORGANISMS AND POPULATIONS

 Ecology is a subject which studies the interaction among organisms and between the organism and its physical (abiotic )
environment.
 Ecology is basically concerned with four levels of biological organizations.
Organisms, Populations, communities and biomes.
 Four levels of organization
Organism Populations Community Biomes
Individual A group of individuals of Two or more population. Two or more communities
same species. (Population interacting with make biomes.
other population)

POPULATION ATTRIBUTES
 Population - Individuals of same species living in groups in well defined area, sharing and competing for similar resources
and potentially interbreed (Sexual reproduction). For example, group of human- human population, Group of dogs – dog
population.
 Cormorants (medium to large birds) in a wetland, Rats in an abandoned dwelling, Teakwood trees in a forest, bacteria in a
culture plate and Lotus plants in a pond are examples of population.
 Natural selection operates at population level.
 Ecology links to population genetics and evolution.
 A population has certain attributes, whereas an individual Organism does not. An individual may have births and death,
but the population has birth rates and death rates.
 Rates are expressed as change in numbers (increase or decrease) with respect to total numbers of the population.

 Birth Rate (b)= natality (B) (newly added) / size of original population
(PYQ) Ex- Original population = 20
Newly added = 8
Current population =28
Birth rate (b)= 8/20= 0.4

 Death Rate (d)= mortality (D) (recently died) / size of original population
(PYQ) Ex- Original population = 40
Recently died = 4
Current population =36
Birth rate (b)= 4/40= 0.1

 Sex ratio = Percentage of males and females in a population

Ex- 60% of population are females
40% of population are males

 Age pyramid = When age distribution is plotted for a population, the resulting structure is an age pyramid.
 Age pyramid can have three shapes.
Pyramidal Bell Shaped Urn shaped
For expanding population. Stable population. For declining population.

QUESTIONS
1. Calculate the death rate if 6 individual in a laboratory population of 60 fruit flies died during a particular week.
6/60= 0.1
2. What are the four levels of biological organization with which ecology basically deals?
3. List the attributes that populations possess but not individuals.

Population density – Population size in a given area is technically called Population density.
It can be measured by –number, biomass, percentage cover.
Although total number is generally the most appropriate major of population density, but in some cases it is either
meaningless or difficult to determine.

Sometimes for some ecological investigations, there is no need to know the absolute population density. Related population
density can also work. The tiger census in our national parks and tiger reserves is often based on pug marks and fecal pellets.

So, if N is the population density at time t, then its density at time t +1 is:
Nt+1 = Nt + [(B + I) – (D + E)]

*Under normal condition, birth and death are most important factors.
* But a new habitat is just being colonized. Immigration may contribute more significantly than birth.

GROWTH MODELS – The characteristic pattern of growth of a population with time is called growth model.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH MODEL (geometric) LOGISTIC GROWTH (Vernulst –pearl logistic growth model)
Unlimited food and space. Growth will be exponential Limited food and space.
J shaped curve S shape curve (sigmoid)
dN/dt= rN dN/dt= rN[(K-N)/K]

r= b-d ( intrinsic rate of natural increase)(birth rate- death rate) K= carrying capacity (maximum no. of species that can be supported
N = population size in a habitat)
Integral form of equation This growth model is more realistic as it considers resources are
Nt= Noert limited.
e= base of natural logarithms (2.71828)
Nt = Population density after time t
N0 = Population density at time zero
r = intrinsic rate of natural increase
More ‘r” more natural selection
r value of Norway rat= 0.015 (1.5%)
r value of flour beetle= 0.12 (12%)
r value of humans (1981 in India)= 0.0205 (2%)
Q. A population of 80 fish is growing at the maximum rate of 0.35. Predict the size of the population after 1 generation.
N= 80
r= 0.35
dN/dt= rx N= 28 ;
size of population =80+28= 108 fishes

Q. A population of 80 fish living in a pond with a carrying capacity of 150 is growing at a maximum rate of 0.35. Predict the size of the
population after one generation.
dN/dt= rN[(K-N)/K)]
dN/dt= 0.35* 80 (0.467)
dN/dt= 13
size of population = 80+13= 93 fishes

(PYQ) Q. Study the graph given below and answer the questions that follow.

(a) Write the status of food and space in the curves, a and b.
(b) In the absence of predators, which one of the two curves would appropriately depict the prey population?
(c) Time has shown on X axis and there is a parallel dotted line above it. Gave the significance of this dotted line.

Q. What happens to a population, when population density is equal to carrying capacity. (N=K)

Life history variation- Population evolve to maximize their fitness/ Darwinian fitness ( high r value).
Reproductive strategies-
Breed once in lifetime- Pacific salmon, bamboo.
Breed multiple times --birds and mammals.
Produce large number of small sized offsprings-- Oyster, pelagic fish (occupy upper layers of ocean).
Produce small number of large sized offsprings-- birds and mammals.

Population Interaction
There is no such habitat in the world that is inhabited by a single species.
Population interactions can be:
(+) Positive( beneficial) (-) negative( detrimental) 0 (neutral)

1. PREDATION (+/-) –
 Only one species benefits , and the interaction is detrimental to the other species.
 Energy transfer across profit level.
 Keep population of prey in check.
 EX. - In 1920s (Australia) Prickly pear cactus became invasive and caused havoc by spreading rapidly into millions of hectares. It
was controlled after introducing cactus feeding predator (Moth) from its natural habitat was introduced into the country.
 Predators reduce inter specific competition among print. Example- starfish Pisaster (predator)were removed, More than 10 species
of invertebrates became extinct within a year because of interspecific competition.
 Predator are prudent (sensible and careful in making judgements)- Overexploitation of prey might make them extinct and following
that the potato will also become extinct due to lack of food.
 Defense mechanism to lessen impact of Predation:
1. Camouflage (cryptically coloured)- Insects and frog.
2. Distasteful- Monarch butterfly (predator is bird) feed on poisonous weed during caterpillar stage acquire a chemical.
3. Herbivores are also predators. Thorns of Acacia and cactus provide defense against herbivores
4. Plant store chemicals which make herbivorous sick.
5. Calotropis weed produces highly poisonous cardiac glycosides, keeps cattle and goats away.
6. Nicotine, Caffeine, Opium, Quinine, strychnine are defenses against grazers and browsers.

2. COMPETITION ( -/-) –
 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 ---------interspecific competition.
 Competition is defined as process in which fitness measured in r (The intrinsic rate of increase) of 1 species become lower in the
presence of another species.
 Example, shallow South American lakes visiting flamingos and resident fishes compete for zooplankton, their common food in the
lake.
 Gause’s Competition Exclusion Principle – A competitively superior species will eventually eliminate the inferior competitor. (Only
true when resources are limited, not otherwise). Example in Galapagos island – Abingdon tortoise Became extinct within a decade
after goats were introduced in the island, due to greater browsing efficiency of the goat.
 Competitive release- a species host distribution is restricted to a small geographical area because of a superior competitor, will
expand its distributional range dramatically when superior competitor is removed .Ex- The larger competitive Superior Barnacle
Balanus dominates the Inter tidal area and excludes the smaller Barnacle Chathamalus from that zone.
 Herbivores and plants appear to be more adversely affected by competition than carnivores.
 Resource partitioning- Competing species might evolve mechanism to promote coexistence rather than exclusion. Example Mac
Arthur shows that five warbler species living on same tree avoided competition and coexist due to behavioral differences in their
foraging activities.

3. PARASITISM (+/-) - Coevolution of host and parasite

 Parasites special adaptations- loss of unnecessary sense organ, Adhesive organs or suckers present, loss of digestive system, higher
reproductive capacity.
 Life cycle of parasites is complex involving one or two intermediate host or vectors. Human liver fluke depends on two intermediate
hosts,( a snail and a fish) to complete its life cycle. Malarial parasite needs (vector) mosquito to spread to other host.
 Majority of 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.
 Ectoparasite (Feeds on external surface of host)  Endoparasite (Live inside the hosts body at different site.
Liver, kidney, RBC lungs)
 Lice on human.  Life cycle more complex Because of extreme
specialization.
 ticks on dogs.  Morphological and anarchical features are simplified
 while emphasising their reproductive potential.
 Copepods on marine fish 
 Cuscuta (lost chlorophyll) parasite on hedge plants 