Population ecology is the study of how populations — groups of individuals of the same species living in a specific area — interact with their environment and change over time.
Think of population ecology like being a city planner. Just as a city planner needs to understand how people live, work, and move within a city to make it better, ecologists need to understand how populations function within their environment to protect them and predict future changes.
Population Density: This refers to the number of individuals per unit area or volume. It's like counting the number of people living in each apartment building in our city analogy.
Carrying Capacity: This is the maximum population size that an environment can sustain indefinitely. It's similar to knowing how many people can comfortably live in our imaginary city without exhausting resources.
Demography: The statistical study of populations, especially human beings. In our city analogy, this would be like studying who lives in the city - their ages, occupations, etc.
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