Human Population Growth

Human Population Growth
Matt Lindsey
SCI 230
Mayra Colombani
July 27, 2012

Human Population Growth No matter what organism you are talking about, all living things possess the ability to reproduce. This comes in two forms. The first form of population growth is Exponential Population Growth. The second is Logistic Population Growth. Exponential population growth refers to when a population is not subject to any limiting factors, it will grow and expand exponentially even past the capacity of the environment to sustain. Rabbits are a good example of this form of population growth, “Thus, the exponential growth model explains how a few dozen rabbits can multiply into millions and overrun a continent.” (Simon, Reece, & Dickey, 2010) Logistic population growth refers to when a population reaches the capacity of the environment to sustain, the population growth declines. Fur seals of St. Paul Island are a good example of this, “After hunting was controlled, the population increased rapidly until about 1935, when it began to level off and started fluctuating around a population size of about 10,000 bull seals—the carrying capacity for St. Paul Island.” (Simon, Reece, & Dickey, 2010) Humans tend to exhibit exponential forms of population growth. We rapidly reproduce and expand, exceeding the carrying capacity of the environment. This leads to us spreading to other areas and exceeding the carrying capacity there as well.

Resources Simon, E. J., Reece, J. B., & Dickey, J. L. (2010). Campbell essential biology with physiology (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.