Population (biology)
A group of same-species individuals separated by space, genetics, or demography.
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A population in biology is a group of organisms of the same species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time.[1] Biologists define the term in multiple ways, sometimes significantly different, which can cause confusion.[2]
Quick Facts
- Field
- Biology
- Subfields
- Ecology
- Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Key concept
- Group of same-species individuals disjunct from others
- Approaches
- Ecological and evolutionary (genetic)
- Alternative terms
- Deme
- subpopulation
- local population
- aggregation
- cluster
- metapopulation
- species population
- gamodeme
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Before the 1940s–1950s, biologists used "population" to describe multiple species of a region, but the term now describes only members of the same species.[3] The term "population" was coined and first used by Edward Osborne Wilson in 1971 when studying population dynamics.[1] Population biology is an interdisciplinary field dealing with concepts of Ecology, Statistics, Genetics, and Mathematics.[1] Defining a population can be approached primarily through either an ecological or an evolutionary lens.[4]
What the research sources say
Biology Online defines a population as an interbreeding group of organisms living together at the same place and time.[1] The concept of population is not exclusive to biology, as it is also used in Statistical Science, such as when referring to the world population.[1] In taxonomy, the population is a low-level taxonomic unit or rank, below species.[1] Population ecology studies the dynamics of the population of species, including birth rates, death rates, immigration, and emigration.[1]
A population with a greater number of individuals has more chances of survival over time due to greater genetic variability.[1]
References
- "Population", Biology Online. facts only, no text reused. biology-online.org
- Wikipedia, "Population (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wells, "Populations, Metapopulations, and Species Populations: What Are They and Who Should Care?", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, p. 458–462; Wells, "Populations, Metapopulations, and Species Populations: What Are They and Who Should Care?", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, p. 458–462; Wells, "Populations, Metapopulations, and Species Populations: What Are They and Who Should Care?", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, p. 458–462; Rastogi, "A Complete Course in ISC Biology", Pitambar Publishing, 1997, p. 19–21; Krebs, "Ecology: The en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Population (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wells, "Populations, Metapopulations, and Species Populations: What Are They and Who Should Care?", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, p. 458–462; Wells, "Populations, Metapopulations, and Species Populations: What Are They and Who Should Care?", Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, p. 458–462; Yablokov, "Population Principles in Research Into Natural Focality of Zoonoses", CRC Press, 1989, p. 255–256; McIntosh, "The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory", Cambridge University Press, 1986-09-26, p. 150; Wells, "Populations, Metapopul en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Population (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Waples, "INVITED REVIEW: What is a population? An empirical evaluation of some genetic methods for identifying the number of gene pools and their degree of connectivity", Molecular Ecology, 2006, p. 1419–1439; Young, "Population Biology of Tropical Insects", Springer Science & Business Media, 2012-12-06, p. 22 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Population (biology) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Population (biology) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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