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

Myocardial hypertrophy and remodeling, The long term adaptive mechanisms in...

The long term adaptive mechanisms involve myocardial hypertrophy and remodeling which occurs slowly over weeks to months. The capacity of these adaptive mechanisms meant to sust

Rk, how many chromosomes in human

how many chromosomes in human

Lymph, why is it known as middle man

why is it known as middle man

Thalopyta, cherector and economic imoprtance of fungi snd algae

cherector and economic imoprtance of fungi snd algae

Lyme disease, Lyme disease It is a metazoonoses caused by a spirochaete, B...

Lyme disease It is a metazoonoses caused by a spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease based on the specific symptoms, is also known as erythema migrans (ECM) or lyme  arthr

Deforestation - degradation of ecosystem, Deforestation - Degradation of Ec...

Deforestation - Degradation of Ecosystem The deforestation is a broad term. It means the removal/destruction of the forest cover or the vegetation of an area. It includes repe

Sterility assurance, All the efforts that go into the preparation of instru...

All the efforts that go into the preparation of instruments are futile if the sterilization process itself is not successful. There is no way of seeing that instruments are sterile

What are retroviruses, What are retroviruses? How do they reproduce and wha...

What are retroviruses? How do they reproduce and what is the role of the enzyme reverse transcriptase? Retroviruses are viruses whose genetic material is RNA. HIV and the virus

Explain solid salt and saturated aqueous solution, Explain solid salt and s...

Explain solid salt and saturated aqueous solution? In this example, the equilibrium system consists of crystalline PbCl 2 and an aqueous phase containing the species H 2 O, P

What are the two big groups into which cells are classified, What are the t...

What are the two big groups into which cells are classified? Cells can be divided as eukaryotic or prokaryotic. Prokaryotic cell is the cell that without a delimited nucleus

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