7 public questions tagged with this topic.
A stable population has balanced birth and death rates, leading to minimal overall population change.
Ref: NCERT Class 12 Biology Chapter 11: Organisms and Populations Life History Variations and Population Interactions - Overview
In logistic growth, population growth slows as it nears carrying capacity due to resource limitations.
Ref: NCERT Class 12 Biology Chapter 11: Organisms and Populations Population Growth - Exponential and Logistic Models
For a population observed at discrete time intervals, the finite rate of increase is λ = N(t+1)/N(t). A value of 1 means that each census contains the same number of individuals as the preceding census, so abundance is stable rather than rising or falling. Equivalently, births plus immigration exactly balance deaths plus emigration over the interval. This does not imply that no individuals are born or die; demographic turnover may be substantial while net population change remains zero. In an age-structured population, λ = 1 is the long-term result after the stable age distribution has been re
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 11
“Less extinction prone” for an organism with low variability in population size is. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. The mechanism should be evaluated across both local and global scales. Local disappearance can be reversed by recolonization, whereas global extinction is irreversible and requires the loss of every surviving population. The remaining alternatives—“Highly extinction prone”, “Genetically unstable”, “Unable to adapt”—refer to different states, processes, or scales and t
Ref: Conservation Biology, Primack & Sher, 6th Ed., Ch. 7
“Population is stable” for the value of r₀ = 1 implies. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Life-history traits reflect allocation among growth, maintenance, survival, and reproduction. Energy invested in many offspring cannot simultaneously be invested in large offspring, prolonged care, or future breeding, creating measurable trade-offs. The remaining alternatives—“Population is increasing”, “Population is declining”, “Net migration is zero”—refer to different states, processes, or s
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 10
Alternative prey with uncorrelated abundance do not generally lead to unstable equilibrium. They can buffer a generalist predator’s food supply because one prey may be abundant when another is scarce, and predator switching toward common prey can stabilize dynamics. They can also generate apparent competition or sustain predators that overexploit a rare prey, so the outcome depends on functional responses, switching, and interaction strengths; uncorrelated abundance alone has no fixed destabilizing sign. Predator saturation, by contrast, is a recognized destabilizing mechanism in many predator
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 14
A predator with multiple prey can persist by switching toward whichever prey is relatively abundant, reducing pressure on a prey species when it becomes rare. This frequency-dependent switching can provide each prey a low-density refuge and dampen extreme consumer–resource cycles. A broader resource base also prevents immediate predator starvation when one prey declines, although persistent predator subsidy can instead create apparent competition and harm a rare focal prey. Stability therefore depends on switching strength, functional responses, and whether prey fluctuations are synchronized.
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 14
