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Carrying capacity is a commonly used concept for biologists when trying to better understand biological populations and the factors which affect them. [1] When addressing biological populations, carrying capacity can be seen as a stable dynamic equilibrium, taking into account extinction and colonization rates. [ 16 ]
There also exists density-independent inhibition, where other factors such as weather or environmental conditions and disturbances may affect a population's carrying capacity. [citation needed] An example of a density-dependent variable is crowding and competition.
As resources become more limited, the growth rate tapers off, and eventually, once growth rates are at the carrying capacity of the environment, the population size will taper off. [6] This S-shaped curve observed in logistic growth is a more accurate model than exponential growth for observing real-life population growth of organisms.
Since global hectares is able to convert human consumptions like food and water into a measurement, biocapacity can be applied to determine the carrying capacity of the Earth. Likewise, because an economy is tied to various production factors such as natural resources, biocapacity can also be applied to determine human capital .
Using these techniques, Malthus' population principle of growth was later transformed into a mathematical model known as the logistic equation: = (), where N is the population size, r is the intrinsic rate of natural increase, and K is the carrying capacity of the population.
Demographic stochasticity is often only a driving force toward extinction in populations with fewer than 50 individuals. Random events influence the fecundity and survival of individuals in a population, and in larger populations, these events tend to stabilize toward a steady growth rate. However, in small populations there is much more ...
Source–sink dynamics is a theoretical model used by ecologists to describe how variation in habitat quality may affect the population growth or decline of organisms.. Since quality is likely to vary among patches of habitat, it is important to consider how a low quality patch might affect a population.
By contrast, K-selected species display traits associated with living at densities close to carrying capacity and typically are strong competitors in such crowded niches, that invest more heavily in fewer offspring, each of which has a relatively high probability of surviving to adulthood (i.e., low r, high K).