Organisms and Population Attributes

Introduction

It is known to all of us that the life of organisms could not exist on earth without interactions. Ecology is the study of the communication of organisms between an area within their environment. This type of communication establishes an overall adjustment of the organisms to their environment which also includes the continuity of species.

There is not a single habitat, which is solely occupied by a single species. Within an ecosystem, organisms live in a group, and they share or compete for resources.  They grow as a population.

Let us discuss the attributes of organisms and populations in an ecosystem in detail.

Organisms and Population

A population could be defined as the set of all organisms of the same species existing in a geographical area which is capable of interbreeding. Both sexual and asexual reproductions contribute to the population. Rats in an abandoned dwelling, teak wood trees in a forest tract, and bacteria in a culture plate, are all examples of a population.

The environmental conditions are variable and populations of a particular region learn to adapt to its environmental conditions. Evolution through natural selection also had a role in shaping the populations.

Population Attributes

Populations have some features that, as an organism, a species lacks. Following are the different attributes of a population.

1. Birth and Death Rates
2. Sex Ratio
3. Age Distribution
4. Population Density

Birth and Death Rates

These attributes could be statistically measured for a population, but not for an organism. This is because an organism has birth and death, but not birth rate and death rate.

Birth and death rates are the per capita births and deaths in a population respectively. In other words, the birth rate is calculated by dividing the total number of births by the total population in a given period of time. These rates vary as per the number of members in a population.

Sex Ratio

The sex ratio calculates the ratio of male to female individuals in a population.

Age Distribution

The next population attribute is age distribution. A population comprises different age groups such as pre-reproductive, reproductive and post-reproductive age groups. This age distribution is graphically represented by an age pyramid. The age pyramid indicates whether a population is growing, stable or declining.

Population Density

Population density tells the size of a population. This attribute is the reflection of the condition of a habitat. More density indicates that the habitat provides more favourable living conditions.

Hence, we can summarise that the population attributes provide a lot of information about an ecosystem and thus help in population ecology.

Density of Population

The number of people living in the unit area of the Earth’s surface is the density of population- normally expressed as per square metre. The average density of the population in the whole world is 51 persons per square km. South-Central Asia has the highest density of population, followed by East and South East Asia.