Question
Engage How is population size affected by different environmental factors? Give 2 and explain how it affects population size.
Answer
4
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Max
Advanced · Tutor for 1 years
Answer
1. Food Availability: If the available food is sufficiently abundant, it can help the population grow, as all individuals have enough resources for survival and reproduction. However, if food is scarce, it can cause starvation and death, leading to reductions in the population size.2. Predation: If a population is heavily predated upon, it can cause a significant decrease in the population size. If predators are few, the prey species might multiply freely, leading to an increase in the population size. However, such freedom might impact other aspects, such as competition for limited resources among the prey species.
Explanation
## Step 1Population size in an area is influenced by various environmental factors. These factors can be broadly classified into abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors.## Step 2The first factor to consider is food availability. The availability of food directly affects the population size. When food is abundant, it supports the growth of the population. However, when food is scarce, it can lead to a decrease in population size due to starvation and death.## Step 3The second factor is predation. A balanced predator-prey relationship is crucial for the health of a population. If predation is heavy, the preyed-on population might decline significantly. On the other hand, if there is too little predation, it might lead to uncontrolled population growth of a species, which can disrupt the balance of the ecosystem.## Step 4It is important to note that these factors are not isolated. They interact with each other and with other factors such as temperature conditions, migration events, disease outbreak, competition, and the carrying capacity of a habitat.