Chapter 51 - Introduction

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To fully appreciate this tutorial, you should be familiar with the concepts of:
• Population ecology and population dynamics
• Measuring population size based on natality compared to mortality
• Carrying capacity

After this tutorial, you will be able to describe and identify:
• Density-dependent and density-independent factors influencing the populations of moose and wolves
• Intraspecific competition examples
• Interspecific competition examples

What factors affect animal population growth?

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Two species
Exploitation competition
Interference competition
Disease
Interspecific competition
Density-independent factors
Inbreeding
Summary

Any number of factors affect a population of animals. Many of these factors affect more than one species at a time. Changes in predator populations affect populations of prey. When fewer predators are present, what happens to the population level of their prey?

In some cases, opportunities have arisen to study these changes under almost controlled conditions. One such example is Isle Royale on Lake Superior, part of the North American Great Lakes.