Lecture 2 (1)

Lecture 1: Recap

• Population ecologists are interested in the dynamics and regulation of populations • •Measuring population size and density (across time: growth) is

fundamental to this • •Understanding the mechanisms behind changes in population size

and distribution requires information about demography (birth and death rates, dispersal, age structure etc.)

• Lecture 2: Key points LEC.241 - Lecture 2 • • Populations grow or decline due to the net difference between

inputs (e.g. births) and outgoings (e.g. deaths) • • Populations may grow exponentially (at least at first) • • We can model population dynamics (and ‘project’ into the future) if

we can quantify the fundamental net reproductive rate, R • • Exponential growth cannot continue indefinitely, due to density-

dependence