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Controlling the Wildlife HarvestA population is a group of individual organisms (such as mule deer or fir trees or bobwhite quail) of the same kind (species). A population may be local or global, depending on the size of the area under study. Population dynamics refers to the changes in structure and composition that occur in populations. Density, age and productivity are the three main considerations of population dynamics. A community is the populations of plants and animals living and interacting with one another in a given location. An ecosystem is a community of living things interacting with one another and with their physical environment (air, water, soil, wind, etc.). An ecosystem can be a planet, a forest, a lake, or a fallen log. Edge Effect is a term that refers to the high diversity of plants and animals that occur in areas where edges or borders of different habitats overlap each other. The zone of transition between one habitat type (such as a forest) and another (such as a field) offers the greatest mixture of habitat, which in turn is used by a high diversity of species. For many animals, the best habitat has an abundance of edge arranged so that food, cover, water and space are close to each other. |
