The Earth's Carrying Capacity for Humans

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Does the Earth have a Defined Carrying Capacity for Humans?

Introduction:

Having a population size that is not dangerously large is the limit where the population size is acceptable and understood as the defined carrying capacity for humans1. Population size and consumption can create stress on the environment through resources and social systems so that the quality of life declines. However some believe that resources can be created by humans and not all need to be replaced and reinvented once depleted, so resource availability may not be declining after all2. Although population growth increases economic growth in further investments of natural and renewable resources, consumption, increased population and limiting factors of carrying capacity will decrease the Earth’s ability to support and sustain us humans.

“Yes” argument:

The assumption that food is the limiting factor as observed by Malthus in 1798, do not grow as fast as populations. It becomes clear that limiting factors consist of several kinds when other species are considered. The limit factor can be space for example where the availability of places to hide from predators can be limited for some species such that availability of nesting material may be depleting along with water in dry regions1. Nicholson states that an inactive state of the population balance can be reached under constant environmental conditions through mechanisms sensitive to population density. As density decreases, intraspecific competition of a population increases so that the surviving population grows faster and the dense population grows slower1. He proposes that density-dependent feedback involving intraspecific competition push a population towards stability at its environmental limits...

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