Populations and Biodiversity
Aligned to HS-LS2-2 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Population sizes rise and fall with births, deaths, immigration, and limits like food supply. Graphs and equations let biologists model this growth and predict effects on biodiversity.
Worked example
A deer population grows exponentially until food runs short; the growth curve then bends into an S-shape as the herd nears the land's carrying capacity.
Practice questions
- From a data table, describe how a population changed over ten years.
- Sketch exponential versus logistic growth curves and label the carrying capacity.
- Use a rate calculation to predict how a new predator would affect a prey population's size.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Poblaciones y biodiversidad
El tamaño de las poblaciones aumenta y disminuye según los nacimientos, las muertes, la inmigración y límites como la disponibilidad de alimento. Las gráficas y las ecuaciones permiten a los biólogos modelar este crecimiento y predecir sus efectos sobre la biodiversidad.
Ejemplo: Una población de venados crece de forma exponencial hasta que escasea el alimento; entonces la curva de crecimiento se dobla en forma de S al acercarse a la capacidad de carga del terreno.
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