Factors affecting biotic potential - population growth, Biology

Assignment Help:

Factors Affecting Biotic Potential - Population Growth

Biotic potential differs from one species to another e.g., bacterial populations can grow faster than population of oak trees. The rate of reproduction of any individual can be increased in any or all of three following ways:

  1. By producing a large number of offsprings each time it reproduces,
  2. By having a long reproductive life, and
  3. By reproducing as early in life as possible.

Of these three factors, the last one is most important. Let us take an example to understand this. A bacterium neither lives for a long time nor produces many offsprings each time it reproduces. Its reproductive potential is higher than that of a dog because most bacteria can reproduce within an hour after being formed by cell division, whereas a dog is not able to reproduce until it is at least 6 months old. So we can say that shorter the generation time of a species, the higher its reproductive potential. In case of organisms with equal generation time, the number of offsprings produced determines which has higher potential for population growth. Thus the population of a plant that produces 100 seeds a year can potentially grow faster than the population of a plant that produces 10 seeds a year. However, with longer pre-reproductive period, number of offsprings produced does not affect much the biotic potential of a population.


Related Discussions:- Factors affecting biotic potential - population growth

Movement, Movement Movement is another characteristic of living things...

Movement Movement is another characteristic of living things. It does not always mean locomotion or movement from one place to another. In animals movement is quite obvious. W

Types of individuals in cnidaria, Types of individuals in Cnidaria The...

Types of individuals in Cnidaria There are two forms of individuals in Cnidaria: Polyp Medusa Polyp is tubular, the oral end being free carrying

Genetic or acquired deficiency of the vitamin k metabolism, Q. Why are some...

Q. Why are some kinds of hemorrhagic diseases caused by genetic or acquired deficiency of the vitamin K metabolism? Deficiency of vitamin K predisposes to hemorrhages since thi

Implementation of nursing care in acute rheumatic fever, Implementation of ...

Implementation of Nursing Care Provide Bed Rest and Comfort   Your major role as a nurse is to provide bed rest to the child and assist the child and parents to understa

Define protein requirements of preschoolers, Define protein requirements of...

Define protein requirements of Preschoolers? For Preschoolers the protein requirements of children of various age groups are computed by the factorial method as employed by FAO

Medical and first aid, Medical and First Aid - Factors Affecting Occupation...

Medical and First Aid - Factors Affecting Occupational Health Depending on the type of work the industry must make arrangement for readily available medical facility. A nearby

Byproducts of low digestibility and low nitrogen, Byproducts of low digesti...

Byproducts of low digestibility and low nitrogen Straws, husks, pods and haulms are the byproducts of this category. Very often the nitrogen content in these byproducts is so l

Find which of the following is most stable, Hydrogen ( h) has 1 electron; C...

Hydrogen ( h) has 1 electron; Carbon ( c) has 6 electrons, use the octet rule to determine which of the following is most stable. Note: some of these may have double bonds. A. O

Cat assay, CAT assay  is an enzyme assay. CAT stands for the chloramphenico...

CAT assay  is an enzyme assay. CAT stands for the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase, a bacterial enzyme which inactivates the chloramphenicol by acetylating it. CAT assays are man

What are clotting factors, What are clotting factors? Clotting factors ...

What are clotting factors? Clotting factors are substances (enzymes, coenzymes, reagents) essential for the clotting stages to happen. Besides those triggering factors and reag

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd