Energy budget

Definition

An energy budget is the balance of energy intake and expenditure in an organism. It determines how organisms allocate energy to growth, reproduction, and maintenance activities.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Energy budgets influence life history strategies by determining resource allocation to survival and reproduction.
2. Natural selection favors individuals with optimized energy budgets for their specific environments.
3. Energy budgets can determine trade-offs between reproductive output and lifespan.
4. Environmental factors such as food availability directly impact an organism's energy budget.
5. Understanding an organism's energy budget helps predict its population dynamics and community interactions.

Review Questions

• How does natural selection influence an organism's energy budget?
• What factors can affect the energy budget of an organism?
• Why is understanding an organism’s energy budget important in studying population dynamics?

Related terms

Life History: The series of changes undergone by an organism during its lifetime, including development, reproduction, and death.

Natural Selection: The process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Trade-off: A situation where having more of one trait results in having less of another due to limited resources or constraints.