
Density dependent factors affect a population through increasing or decreasing birth and death rates, in a way that is directly related to the density of the population.
What are density dependent factors in biology?
Density-dependent Factors. Density-dependent factors are those that depend on the population density. These are the factors whose effects on the population vary depending on the density of population. These include availability of food, competition, predation, parasitism, diseases, etc.
What is the difference between density independent and density dependent?
Unlike density independent factors, which are not tied to the population density, density dependent factors change how they affect the population as the population changes in size.
What is density-dependence in population ecology?
In population ecology, density-dependent processes occur when population growth rates are regulated by the density of a population. This article will focus on density-dependence in the context of macroparasite life cycles.
What happens to population density when population density decreases?
However, as density decreases, such as through mortality or migration, the influence of density-dependent factors also decreases. For example, disease transmission may decline as individuals perish and surviving members of a population come into contact with one another less frequently.

Is human activities density-dependent or independent?
independent factorsPollution and human activity are also density-independent factors.
Is human pollution density-dependent?
Density-independent regulation and interaction with density-dependent factors. Many factors, typically physical or chemical in nature (abiotic), influence the mortality of a population regardless of its density. They include weather, natural disasters, and pollution.
What is an example of density-dependent?
Density-dependent limiting factors cause a population's per capita growth rate to change—typically, to drop—with increasing population density. One example is competition for limited food among members of a population.
What human activities are examples of density independent limiting factors?
Whether the population size has reached its carrying capacity or not, a density-independent limiting factor will always affect the population. Natural disasters and unusual weathers are involved in this type of limiting factor. One specific example of is the occurrence of flooding and landslides during a violent storm.
Which is not a density-dependent factor?
The correct answer is Flooding. A density-dependent, growth limiting factors are of four types. They are predation, competition, parasitism, and...
What are 5 examples of density independent factors?
These density-independent factors include food or nutrient limitation, pollutants in the environment, and climate extremes, including seasonal cycles such as monsoons. In addition, catastrophic factors can also impact population growth, such as fires and hurricanes.
What are three density dependent factors?
Density-dependent factors include competition, predation, parasitism and disease.
What is density dependent in biology?
density-dependent factor, also called regulating factor, in ecology, any force that affects the size of a population of living things in response to the density of the population (the number of individuals per unit area).
What is density independent examples?
For example, for most organisms that breathe oxygen, oxygen availability is a density-independent factor; if oxygen concentrations decline or breathable oxygen is suddenly made unavailable, such as when oxygen-using plants are covered by rising floodwaters, those organisms perish and populations of the various affected ...
What is density dependent and independent?
Summary: 1. Density dependent factors are those that regulate the growth of a population depending on its density while density independent factors are those that regulate population growth without depending on its density.
What is density dependent selection?
Density-dependent selection occurs when the fitnesses of genotypes within a population respond differently to changes in total population size or density. Density-regulation of a population in a constant environment implies that fitnesses decrease as population size increases.
What is the difference between density independent and density dependent factors with examples?
Density-dependent factors have varying impacts according to population size. Different species populations in the same ecosystem will be affected differently. Factors include: food availability, predator density and disease risk. Density-independent factors are not influenced by a species population size.
Why are density dependent factors called regulating factors?
Density-dependent factors are sometimes called regulating factors because of their potential for maintaining population density within a narrow range of values. breeding flamingos.
How does density affect the spread of disease?
For example, some diseasesspread faster in populations where individuals live in close proximity with one another than in those whose individuals live farther apart. Similarly, competition for foodand other resources rises with density and affects an increasing proportion of the population. However, as density decreases, such as through mortalityor migration, the influence of density-dependent factors also decreases. For example, disease transmission may decline as individuals perish and surviving members of a population come into contact with one another less frequently. Likewise, competition for food and water, nestingsites, areas with adequate levels of sunlight, and other critical resources falls as individuals spread out.
What are the dynamics of living things?
The dynamics of most populations of living things are influenced by a combination of density-dependent factors and density-independent factors (that is, those that affect the population regardless of how concentrated its members are), and the relative effects of the factors vary among populations. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This ...
What is density dependent?
Density dependence. In population ecology, density-dependent processes occur when population growth rates are regulated by the density of a population. This article will focus on density-dependence in the context of macroparasite life cycles.
What is density dependent fecundity?
Density-dependent fecundity. Density-dependent fecundity exists, where the birth rate falls as competition increases. In the context of gastrointestinal nematodes, the weight of female Ascaris lumbricoides and its rates of egg production decrease as host infection intensity increases.
How does density affect parasites?
In macroparasite life cycles, density-dependent processes can influence parasite fecundity, survival, and establishment. Density-dependent processes can act across multiple points of the macroparasite life cycle. For filarial worms, density-dependent processes can act at the host/vector interface or within the host/vector life-cycle stages. At the host/vector interface, density-dependence may influence the input of L3 larvae into the host's skin and the ingestion of microfilariae by the vector. Within the life-cycle stages taking place in the vector, density-dependence may influence the development of L3 larvae in vectors and vector life expectancy. Within the life-cycle stages taking place in the host, density-dependence may influence the development of microfilariae and host life expectancy.
Which organisms have positive density-dependence?
Positive density-dependence processes occur in macroparasite life cycles that rely on vectors with a cibarial armature, such as Anopheles or Culex mosquitoes. For Wuchereria bancrofti, a filarial nematode, well-developed cibarial armatures in vectors can damage ingested microfilariae and impede the development of infective L3 larvae.
What happens to worms at low parasite density?
At higher parasite densities, the probability of mating pairs forming and successful reproduction increases.
What happens when a cell population reaches a certain density?
When a cell population reaches a certain density, the amount of required growth factors and nutrients available to each cell becomes insufficient to allow continued cell growth . This is also true for other organisms because an increased density means an increase in intraspecific competition.
What is negative density dependent restriction?
Negative density-dependence, or density-dependent restriction, describes a situation in which population growth is curtailed by crowding, predators and competition. In cell biology, it describes the reduction in cell division. When a cell population reaches a certain density, the amount of required growth factors and nutrients available to each cell becomes insufficient to allow continued cell growth .
What Does Density-Dependent Mean?
Populations within ecosystems tend to be regulated by natural reasons that limit or control the growth of populations. Limiting factors are influences within an ecosystem that affect population growth. That is, there are factors within ecosystems that determine the carrying capacity of a population within their natural environment. Carrying capacity is the range at which a population is in balance with its surrounding ecosystem.
What are some examples of density dependent factors?
However, once the rabbit population reaches a certain level a density-dependent factor may begin to increase the death rates or decrease the birth rates of rabbits. E.g., a population of predators will have more success killing individual rabbits because of their abundance, or a contagious disease may have more success spreading to more rabbits. Both examples are biotic as predators and diseases are both living things. Density-independent factors are limiting factors that do not regulate population growth for populations reaching certain levels. These factors tend to be abiotic (nonliving) such as unusual weather, cataclysms, natural disasters, and pollution; all of which can affect birth and death rates but without being determined by a population's current range.
What is the relationship between two organisms that benefits all organisms involved?
These relationships can either take the form of mutualism, commensalism, or parasitism. Mutualism is a relationship between organisms that benefits all organisms involved, while commensalism is a one-sided relationship that benefits one organism while not affecting the other. However, parasitism is a symbiotic relationship between organisms where one organism benefits and survives at the expense of a hosting organism. Parasites can either live within a host's body, on the surface of their skin or even irregularly feed on hosts such as mosquitos.
Why are rabbit populations so dense?
Denser populations of rabbits would allow for the easy transmission and spread of fleas as individual rabbits are more likely to be close to one another within larger populations.
How does density affect population growth?
These factors can affect population growth by determining the birth rates or death rates of a population. They can either slow population growth by increasing the death rate, or by decreasing the birth rate. Density-dependent factors tend to be biotic factors or living factors within an environment (in contrast to abiotic factors which are non-living factors).
Is disease density dependent?
Diseases are an example of a density-dependent factor. Diseases within the context of natural ecosystems tend to take the form of a pathogen, or an infectious bacteria or virus. It is also possible for a disease to be noninfectious and emerge out of a nutrient deficiency or an allergen.
What are density dependent and density independent factors?
A Comparison of Density-dependent and Density-independent Factors. Various factors are employed to chart the population growth of species in order to ensure that it doesn't have any untoward effect on the ecosystem. These determining factors are classified into density-dependent and density-independent factors.
When do density dependent factors come into play?
Density-dependent factors only come into play when the population reaches a certain level. Larger the population, stronger the impact.
What is the limiting factor in population ecology?
In population ecology, a limiting factor can be any resource or environmental condition that limits the growth, abundance, or distribution of the population. Based on the Liebig’s law of the minimum, it implies that even if all other factors are favorable, the one that is least favorable will dictate the growth, abundance, or distribution of the population of a species.
What are the factors that affect the population?
These include availability of food, competition, predation, parasitism, diseases, etc.
What will happen if the population of a plant or animal increases?
Thankfully, nature has its own way of dealing with this problem. Whenever the population of a plant or an animal increases to an extent that it puts pressure on the ecosystem, a limiting factor comes into ...
What happens when the density of population is high?
Competition: If the density of population is high, there will be more competition for food and other resources. It will eventually result in starvation, low reproduction rate, and even migration, with species looking for favorable conditions in other regions.
Do density independent factors have size constraints?
Density-independent factors do not have size constraint. They are effective in the case of both, large populations and small populations. If it were not for these limiting factors, it would not have been possible to regulate the population, and that, in turn, would have had interrupted the ecological balance.
What are density dependent factors?
Density-dependent factors tend to be biological interactions - predation, competition, disease. Density-independent factors tend to be catastrophic events - floods, manure spills resulting in fish kills, or a late spring or early fall frost that kills vegetation or insects.
What is density dependent population regulation?
Density-Dependence. Density-dependent population regulation occurs when the demographic rates - those birth, death, immigration, and emigration rates mentioned earlier - change as a function of the population's density. Inverse density dependent factors are those that decrease as the population density increases.
How does carrying capacity affect population density?
Carrying capacity is set by biotic interactions, in particular competition but also predation, parasitism, and other density-dependent factors set K. Competition is the simplest factor to think about. As a population density approaches K, there are fewer resources available. This means that as a population grows closer to K, competition is more important and individuals in the population may have fewer offspring (reducing the population birth rate) and be less likely to survive (increasing the population death rate). Similarly, disease spreads faster when the population is more dense. Predation often increases as the density increases as well. Think about your favorite hatch, the first 15 minutes may see mayflies largely uneaten but after grabbing the trouts' attention, there are rising fishes everywhere. Trout have responded to the density of the mayflies. For the mayflies, their mortality rates have increased as a function of their density.
How do floods affect the population?
Floods reduce populations regardless of the population's density. When a flood occurs, it kills some random proportion of the population. Or a manure spill that results in a fish kill - it would kill 27% (a number I made up) if the density was 1,000 fish per mile or 2,000 fish per mile.
How do populations grow?
We sometimes think of populations as growing exponentially - without limits - without the effects of density. Exponential growth is based on the same math as compound interest. Often instead of a true exponential model where populations (or money), is compounded "instantaneously", we have a geometric model which is applied to organisms like deer, most plants, and trout that reproduce and are born at discrete times each year. In geometric growth, we have annual rates of growth, not the instantaneous rates of the exponential model. Trout populations will never be higher than they are when year's eggs hatch into fry. In either case, exponential and geometric (or often times referred to as a discrete exponential model) grow at the same rate over time, without limit.
What are the factors that affect the density of a population?
Density-dependent factors tend to be biological interactions - predation, competition, disease. Density-independent factors tend to be catastrophic events - floods, manure spills resulting in fish kills, or a late spring or early fall frost that kills vegetation or insects.
Why do birth rates decrease?
Birth rates often decrease as population density increases and death rates tend to increase as density increases. Similarly, more individuals leave the population - immigrate - and fewer enter the population - emigrate - when densities are high. Most of the time, high and low densities are in reference to the population's carrying capacity ...
Rule of 70
A way to predict the doubling time of a population size is by the rule of 70. This rule states that dividing the number of 70 by the percentage population growth rate approximates the population doubling time.
Limiting Factors on Population Growth
There are two types of factors that can limit population growth - density independent and density dependent.

Overview
Negative density-dependence
Negative density-dependence, or density-dependent restriction, describes a situation in which population growth is curtailed by crowding, predators and competition.{
In cell biology, it describes the reduction in cell division. When a cell population reaches a certain density, the amount of required growth factors and nutrients a…
Positive density-dependence
Positive density-dependence, density-dependent facilitation, or the Allee effect describes a situation in which population growth is facilitated by increased population density.[[
For dioecious (separate sex) obligatory parasites, mated female worms are required to complete a transmission cycle. At low parasite densities, the probability of a female worm encountering a male worm and forming a mating pair can become so low that reproduction is restricted due to …
In macroparasite life cycles
In macroparasite life cycles, density-dependent processes can influence parasite fecundity, survival, and establishment. Density-dependent processes can act across multiple points of the macroparasite life cycle. For filarial worms, density-dependent processes can act at the host/vector interface or within the host/vector life-cycle stages. At the host/vector interface, density-dependence …
Implications for parasite persistence and control
Negative density-dependent (restriction) processes contribute to the resilience of macroparasite populations. At high parasite populations, restriction processes tend to restrict population growth rates and contribute to the stability of these populations. Interventions that lead to a reduction in parasite populations will cause a relaxation of density-dependent restrictions, increasing per-capita rates of reproduction or survival, thereby contributing to population persistence and resili…
Implications for parasite distribution
Anderson and Gordon (1982) propose that the distribution of macroparasites in a host population is regulated by a combination of positive and negative density-dependent processes. In overdispersed distributions, a small proportion of hosts harbour most of the parasite population. Positive density-dependent processes contribute to overdispersion of parasite populations, whereas negative density-dependent processes contribute to underdispersion of parasite populat…
See also
• Plant density
External links
• Density dependence
• Eradicability of filarial diseases
[Category:Evolutionary biology concepts]]