• By the end of your preparation on this topic, you should be able to:
© 1. Discuss
the major factors that determine the rate of change in population size.
© 2. Describe
the relationship of the age-structure of a population to its rate of growth.
[Age structure refers to the proportion of individuals in different
age groups.]
© 3. Discuss
the different types of survivorship curves and their significance.
© 4.
Describe the reason (or reasons) why all the organisms do not reproduce
early and
continuously.
© 5.
Discuss the differences in characteristics of the individuals of the so-called
³r- selected²
(opportunistic) and ³K-selected² (equilibrial) species.
© 6.
Define the following concepts and terms: natality rate;
modular versus unitary
growth; mortality rate; age structure; life history; semelparous and iteroparous
organisms; r-selected and K-selected organisms.
.
• Outline of presentation :
For outline of presentation and for the legends of figures, see the
Handbook for the course "Biology 121 Notes, Spring, 1998, University of
Illinois, Plant Biology: Ecology and Organismic Plant Biology" by Govindjee,
Stipes Publishing, Champaign,IL.
© Slides
used in the class are to be found elsewhere on these Web pages.