Carrying capacity
In ecology, the carrying capacity of an environment is the number of organisms of a particular species that can live there depending on the amount of resources it has. If too many organisms live in an environment, it is called overpopulation.[1]
The carrying capacity of an environment can change, and humans can have an effect on the carrying capacity. For example, agriculture and irrigation allow feeding more people; meaning the human carrying capacity is increased.[2]
Some things that can change an environment's carrying capacity are pollution and the use of natural resources.[3]
Carrying Capacity Media
Reaching carrying capacity through a logistic growth curve
This is a graph of population change utilizing the logistic curve model. When the population is above the carrying capacity it decreases, and when it is below the carrying capacity it increases.
A fishery at sunset in Cochin, Kerala, India.
Estimates of how the different control variables for seven of nine planetary boundaries have changed from 1950 to present. The green shaded polygon represents the safe operating space.
References
- ↑ "Overpopulation". www.tititudorancea.org.[dead link]
- ↑ "Human Carrying Capacity is Determined by Food Availability" (PDF). Russel Hopfenberg, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department, Duke University, USA.
- ↑ "Carrying Capacity". The Environmental Literacy Council. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2019-02-14.