Study of the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Population ecology</span>

Population ecology

<p><b>Population ecology</b> is a sub-field of <a href="/en/Ecology" title="Ecology" class="wl">ecology</a> that deals with the dynamics of <a href="/en/Species" title="Species" class="wl">species</a> <a href="/en/Population" title="Population" class="wl">populations</a> and how these populations interact with the <a href="/en/Environment_(biophysical)" title="Environment (biophysical)" class="mw-redirect wl">environment</a>, such as <a href="/en/Birth_rate" title="Birth rate" class="wl">birth</a> and <a href="/en/Death_rate" title="Death rate" class="mw-redirect wl">death rates</a>, and by <a href="/en/Immigration" title="Immigration" class="wl">immigration</a> and <a href="/en/Emigration" title="Emigration" class="wl">emigration</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Odum1959_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Odum1959-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Study of the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment</div>
<figure class="wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg/275px-Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1022" data-file-height="510" data-file-type="bitmap" height="137" width="275" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg/413px-Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg/550px-Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg 2x" alt="Jellyfish_population_trends_by_LME.jpg"></a><figcaption>Map of population trends of native and invasive species of <a href="/en/Jellyfish" title="Jellyfish" class="wl">jellyfish</a><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r981673959" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}</style><div class="legend" about="#mwt3"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#E51A1D; color:white;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Increase (high certainty)</div>
<div class="legend" about="#mwt6"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#F1A341; color:black;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Increase (low certainty)</div>
<div class="legend" about="#mwt9"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#4DAF4A; color:black;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Stable/variable</div>
<div class="legend" about="#mwt12"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#377CB5; color:black;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Decrease</div>
<div class="legend" about="#mwt15"><span class="legend-color mw-no-invert" style="background-color:#CCCCCA; color:black;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>No data</div></figcaption></figure>

<p>The discipline is important in <a href="/en/Conservation_biology" title="Conservation biology" class="wl">conservation biology</a>, especially in the development of <a href="/en/Population_viability_analysis" title="Population viability analysis" class="wl">population viability analysis</a> which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given patch of <a href="/en/Habitat" title="Habitat" class="wl">habitat</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> Although population ecology is a subfield of <a href="/en/Biology" title="Biology" class="wl">biology</a>, it provides interesting problems for <a href="/en/Mathematician" title="Mathematician" class="wl">mathematicians</a> and <a href="/en/Statistics" title="Statistics" class="wl">statisticians</a> who work in <a href="/en/Population_dynamics" title="Population dynamics" class="wl">population dynamics</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span></p>



Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration. The discipline is important in conservation biology, especially in the development of population viability analysis which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given patch of habitat. 