Population Ecology

In this session, we cover aspects of population ecology. We learn that ecology is the study of interactions organisms have with their environments and with each other. In addition, we look at how to calculate population growth with three simple math problems and discuss the differences between exponential and logistic growth. Furthermore, we review abiotic (nonliving) and biotic (living) factor examples, such as temperature, rocks, light, and plants. We end the session with an idea of how density dependent and density independent factors differ, followed by a practice problem that illustrates how to calculate carrying capacity.