Transcript Carrying Capacity and Growth Curves

Carrying Capacity
and
Growth Curves
Betty J Dabney, PhD
UMCP SPH/MIAEH
Carrying Capacity
• The population that an area will support
without undergoing environmental
deterioration
• The carrying capacity of an environment
tends to limit population size.
• Food availability, reproductive behavior,
and infectious diseases tend to keep
animal (and human) populations in check.
POPULATION
Overpopulation in developing nations
is leading to humans exceeding the
carrying capacity of the planet.
–World population of 12 billion during
21st century?
–Urban crowding
Bacterial Growth Curve
In a closed system,
the organisms will
eventually produce
toxic by-products
and die because the
carrying capacity of
the growth medium
has been exceeded.
http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/fox/growth_c.jpg
(Another estimate)
(Still Another estimate)
Actual
Projection
http://www.siue.edu/~rblain/f2proj.gif
Similarities
between the world
population growth
curve and
bacterial growth
curve. Are we
destined to the
same fate as the
bacteria?
World Population Density, 2000
The Global Education Project
World Population Density –
Another View
National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition
Some Interesting Maps on the
Human Condition:
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/ear
th/human-conditions.php