AP Biology Questions on Population Ecology

📚 Quick Study Guide

• 🌱 Population: A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area.
• 📈 Population Growth: Influenced by births, deaths, immigration, and emigration.
• ➕ Exponential Growth: Occurs under ideal conditions; represented by $dN/dt = r_{max}N$, where $r_{max}$ is the intrinsic rate of increase.
• ⛔ Logistic Growth: Accounts for carrying capacity (K); represented by $dN/dt = r_{max}N(K-N)/K$.
• ⚖️ Carrying Capacity (K): The maximum population size an environment can support.
• 🌍 Density-Dependent Factors: Factors that affect population growth based on density (e.g., competition, predation, disease).
• 🔥 Density-Independent Factors: Factors that affect population growth regardless of density (e.g., natural disasters, weather).
• 📊 Age Structure: The distribution of individuals among different age groups; can predict future population growth.

🧪 Practice Quiz

1. Which of the following factors does NOT directly affect population size?
   1. Birth rate
   2. Death rate
   3. Emigration
   4. Predator size
2. What type of population growth occurs when resources are unlimited?
   1. Logistic
   2. Exponential
   3. Linear
   4. Declining
3. The carrying capacity (K) represents the:
   1. Maximum population growth rate
   2. Minimum population size
   3. Maximum population size the environment can support
   4. Rate of emigration
4. Which of the following is a density-dependent factor?
   1. Flood
   2. Drought
   3. Competition
   4. Volcanic eruption
5. An age structure diagram with a wide base suggests:
   1. A declining population
   2. A stable population
   3. A rapidly growing population
   4. An aging population
6. In the logistic growth equation, $dN/dt = r_{max}N(K-N)/K$, what does $(K-N)/K$ represent?
   1. The carrying capacity
   2. The environmental resistance
   3. The exponential growth rate
   4. The population size
7. A population is growing exponentially. If the intrinsic rate of increase ($r_{max}$) is 0.5 and the population size (N) is 100, what is the population growth rate ($dN/dt$)?
   1. 25
   2. 50
   3. 75
   4. 100