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Effects of population growth on the environment
Negative effects of overpopulation
Effect or results of overpopulation
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There are several ways to predict how a population grows and/or shrinks over time (Daempfle, 2016). Some organisms are tagged to measure their arrangement in a particular population. Human population is measured by a census. Population demographics teaches us about population size, density, and age. The information collected assists scientists in predicting how populations will change over time. Population size is the number of organisms in a population. Population density is the number of organisms per area of land in an ecosystem. Higher population density could have greater impacts on a population that the actual population size. Therefore, there is an importance in predicting competition in population size. Scientists attempt to predict …show more content…
If these factors were not analyzed, it would be possible for populations to become extinct. In the predictions of populations sizes, the study of populations over particular regions is needed to determine the resources required to fulfill the needs of the population (Daempfle, 2016). When determining resources, one should consider food, water, shelter, etc. In order for populations to thrive, they should be scattered equally in a region. Whether a population grows or shrinks depends on certain factors such as births, deaths, immigrants, and emigrants. Births are simply new born organisms. Deaths are organisms which have dies and left the region permanently. Immigrants are new organisms that have come area from another. Emigrants are organisms that are leaving an area. Population growth happens when more organisms are entering an area than are leaving. In cases, predators and lack of resources result in the decrease in the size of a population. If it were not for predators, populations would overproduce. Overproduction is dangerous for a population. In every population, there is a carrying capacity. A carrying capacity is the amount of population that an area can sustain in
All species, including plants, are impacted by density. Plants, of course, cannot leave their habitat as animals can, so they tend to respond in different ways to density. As populations grow more dense, they compete for resources such as food and space and are more prone to disease. Less dense populations are more susceptible to predation pressure.
For example, if the larger fish are removed than its prey begins to overpopulate, due to the lack of population control. The balance in the oceans is an urgent problem, with around 90% of predatory fish stocks depleted. The ripples can extend even further to land creatures like seagulls.
...rganisms’ populations to decrease as well. On the other hand, if the predator’s population was to decrease drastically, then the prey’s population would come to a rise. There may then not be enough food available for the prey. This could also cause populations to decrease.
In many of the developing countries perhaps, another factor that they relate to population is poverty. If the number of population is high then there is the existence of poverty which ultimately leads to resource scarcity. But this is barely true, studies shows that there is no direct link between population growth and poverty. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the United States concluded in its 1986 report, titled Population Growth and Economic Development as cited by Jan (2003) that it is misleading to equate poverty with population growth per se. It found that the claim that population growth led to resource exhaustion was mistaken and it pointed out that to a great extent environmental problems could be resolved by appropriate government policies designed to correct market failure. This study was later confirmed by the Independent Inquiry Report in to Population and Development (IIRPD) commissioned by the Australian Government in 1994. It acknowledged a positive correlation between population growth and sustainable development (Jan, 2003).
“An Essay on the Principle of Population” is written by Thomas Malthus where he outlines his theory on population growth. He thought that if population continued to grow, food production wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand and he believed that many people would die due to famine. Either people would have to use more contraception to drop the birth rate, or the death rate would increase due to wars, disease or
Hardin argues how the world only has so many resources and opportunities for agriculture to be expended. Therefore, with enough increase in population, these resources will become extinct. Thus, humans will run out of food and eventually starve to death. As Hardin declares, “a finite world can only support a finite population” (Hardin 98).
The Different Factors that can Affect Population Distribution In this discussion I will consider the pull factors that are increasing the population to be unevenly distributed. There are many factors that influence population distribution and population density. The major influences include climate, soil and vegetation, resources available and modern technology. Just these examples could influence thousands of people to move to different regions to suit their needs.
In contrast, species with rising populations may cause further damage to those with low numbers. By having an excessive amount of organisms in their species, they will naturally consume more resources and take up more space, leaving less and less for other
Population growth is the change in population over a period of time. It happens due to a number of factors such as standard of living, cultural factors, and government policies. When the standard of living become better such as the improvement of social conditions ( shelter, sanitation, clean water , health care and etc) death rate and birth rate reduce as more people become inclined to have fewer children. As standard of living increases, there will be more immigrants thus an increase in population. Government policies which encourage people to have lesser or more children also has a significant effect on birth rate too.
This problem of population growth leads to a number of solutions that could have significant implications on the quality of life. Taking no action and allowing population to grow unchecked could possibly risk the entire human species if food or clean water were to become unavailable worldwide. Aiming for zero population growth would in theory maintain the existing quality of life since a stable population would not increase their use of resources. However not all resources are renewable, so scarcities could still occur with a fixed population size. In an extreme case permanent resource depletion under zero population growth could have the same extinction effect that unchecked growth can lead to. Despite the escalating risk of unchecked population growth, technological advances necessitated by the increase in population will at least maintain the quality of life and could possibly improve conditions.
One of the problems facing our world is population. It began about ten thousand years ago when the humans settled and began farming. The farming provides more food for the people thus making the population grow. Now we are about 6 billion in population and in a few years we will be around 10 to 11 billion. Therefore, our population will almost double in size. This means that we will need more food to support us. A study in 1986 by Peter Vitonesk, a Stanford biologist, showed that the humans are already consuming about 38.8 of what is possible for us to eat. Thus, if the population keeps increasing, the percentage will increase also, making us closer and closer to the biophysical limits. By studying the earth's capacity, Dr. Cornell, another biologist, believes that we are already crowded for this would. He believes that our world can only support two million people. Not only this, but population can cause complicated problems to the countries with very high population. These countries will need more schools to educate its people, they will need more hospitals and public health to take care of their people, and they will need more water and more soil for farming to feed all the people. In order to solve the population growth problem, the people should be educated. Once the people are educated they will be aware of the problems they ca...
An increase in human population can influence our economy. Some of the factors that are affected are unemployment, poverty and the restriction of economic expansion. When the population increases, the cost of health, education, and other areas of urban growth are affected. Unempl...
“Thus sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem (p.
Overpopulation is a growing problem all over the world. This is a very important environmental issue and needs to be dealt with. This environmental problem is affecting many countries around the world, but mostly the poor and impoverished countries that don’t have the resources to help deal with these issues. It also affects the environment like plants, animal life and air quality. When the population of people expands we need more natural resources from the environment, so we consume more than we can produce.
The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals. Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically. The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year.