Ecology1.A population is a group of individuals from the same species that live in the samearea at the same time.2.Population ecology is the study of how and why the number of individuals in apopulation changes over time.3.The mathematical and analytical tools used in population ecology help biologistspredict changes in population size and design management strategies to savethreatened species.4.Demography- study of factors that determines the size & structure of a populationa.Birth, death, immigration (move in), and emigration(move out) are leadingprocesses that determine demography5.Study demography to make predictions about future of population6.Also need to know generation age- the average time between a mom’s firstoffspring and daughters first offspring7.Population with healthy young individuals, population should increase over time8.Population that are old and have low survival rate, then decline over time9.A life table summarizes the probability that an individual will survive andreproduce in any given time interval over the course of its lifetime.10. Survivorship- proportion of offspring produced that survive, on average, to aparticular age11. The survivorship curve is a plot of the logarithm of the number of survivorsversus age.a.In a type I curve, survivorship throughout life is high, and mostindividuals approach the maximum life span of the species; humans showthis type of survivorship curve. (humans)b.In a type II curve, most individuals experience relatively constantsurvivorship over their lifetimes; songbirds have this curve. (song birds)c.Type III curves result from high death rates early in life, with highsurvivorship after maturity; many plants have type III curves. (plants)