Essay on "Regulation of Human Population in Developed and Underdeveloped Countries an Ecological Perspective"

Essay 8 pages (2125 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Regulation of Human Population in Developed and Underdeveloped Countries: An Ecological Perspective

The population ecology of developed and underdeveloped countries is under the microscope, in modern times, as concerns rise about the consumption of resources everyday and how the growth levels are damaging the structure of organisms in the planet. This paper focuses on and compares the population ecological systems of the developed and underdeveloped countries while focusing on specific aspects like natural selection, metapopulation, age distribution/structure and population growth (Sarkar and Plutynski, 2003).

However, before beginning with the analysis, it is important to define what population ecology means. The study of population ecology mainly encompasses the examination of natural organisms in environment from the perspective of the size and configurations of the population. It is important to note here that population ecology does not encompass the behavioral patterns of populations but focuses mainly on how their choices impact their interactions with the organisms. Some of the aspects thus studies in Population ecology include the following (Rockwood, 2006):

The size of the population

The spread of the population

The density of the population

The demographics involved

The growth of the populations, its limits and patterns

All of the aforementioned aspects are considered part of the emergent theories or properties of population as they take into consideration communal aspects of organisms as opposed to individual aspects. Campbell and Reece (2002) write:

"The characteristics of a population are shaped by the interactions between individuals and their environments on both ecological and evolutionary scales, and natural selection can modify these characteristics in a population" (Campbell and Reece, 2002).

Going by this definition, we can understand that when analyzing the regulation of population in the developed and underdeveloped countries, we will most likely find vast differences as the individual organisms also play a major role in the structure of population ecology. Populations can also be examined using the metapopulation philosophy, which was first defined in 1969 and has been described by Levins (1970) "as a population of populations which go extinct locally and re-colonize" (Levins, 1970 p.105).

Metapopulations is primarily the process of transference of population through migration. The ecology of the concept of metapopulation is a division of the entire landscape of a population into different levels based in different aspects. These divisions can be based on aspects like most populated areas, least populated areas or not populated areas. The people moving or migrating to and from these divisions are structured within the category of metapopulations. Furthermore, these divisions are titled sources or sinks based on migration patterns. The former, sources divisions, are where there is a record of constant and productive inward migration where the sinks are areas from where many people migrate (Sarkar and Plutynski, 2003).

When examining the importance of the metapopulation concept within the domain of population ecology of the developed and underdeveloped countries, we understand how the migration structures and metapopulations formed thereof can have a major part to play in the population growth and irregularities thus formed. We see a lot of sources being formed in the underdeveloped nations, where people move out from the rural areas into the metropolitan or industrial cities to find a higher quality of life and vocation. In developed countries however, the pattern seems to be the exact opposite. The developed countries mirror a concept of metapopulation ecology normally known as 'rescue effect'. This is when the smaller or lesser populated areas are kept afloat by new immigrants into the area who breathe new opportunities in the area and with time become the source for development in the region (Turchin, 2001).

The important thing to note here is that both patterns lead to competition; the latter pattern, i.e. In developed countries, leading to healthier competition then the former. This is where the concept of natural selection takes shape. Natural selection simply put is the competition towards utilizing a common, yet limited, asset. The two (or at times more) divisions in a population will normally use the asset differently and one would always utilize it better than the other -- and as a result eliminating the other (Vandermeer and Goldberg, 2003).

The differences in utilizing a resource are a direct result in individual differences in organisms. Most organisms are different from each other on non-effectual levels but certain differences can instigate a chain of events that render one organism more efficient than the other. When taking a simple example of a rabbit that runs faster than another in his clan will be more adept at escaping its attacker. The importance of natural selection in the structure of population ecology is that, simply put, a species that has a higher caliber of survivorship will have a higher caliber and percentage of reproduction (Rockwood, 2006).

The reproduction structure of organisms can be heritably driven i.e. passed from generation to generation. This is called differential reproduction and can help the growth of certain organisms over other in a single division of population. In this way, every environment chooses certain traits that are best reproduced, resulting in the formation of patterns in specific populations and specific formats of populations' growth in both humans and animals. This is why we see such a dominant pattern in certain countries attaining more consistent development over other. In the past century, we see dominant countries experience development because of the characteristics that the individual organisms in those countries and the subsequent impact that these characteristics make (Rockwood, 2006). The population growth subsequently experienced by the developed and underdeveloped countries has been affected by these individual characteristics. Some of the natural characteristics that impact the population growth of the developed and underdeveloped countries differently include:

Climate, Soils, Salinity,

Temperature, Extreme weather (Rockwood, 2006)

These factors are what the natural and human organisms adjust to and make the best of with what they bring, i.e. biotic characteristics which include (Mikkelson, 2003; Odenbaugh, 2001)

Competition, i.e. instigating the best use of resources available, one specie is eliminated

Mutualism, i.e. mutual interaction that reaps survivorship benefits for species involved

Commensalism, mutual interaction that reaps survivorship benefits for one specie involved, leaving the other unaffected

Parasitism, i.e. mutual interaction that reaps no benefits for species involved (Mikkelson, 2003; Odenbaugh, 2001)

There are two main forms of factors that exist for population regulation in both developed and underdeveloped countries. They are:

i. Density-dependent factors

ii. Density-independent factors (Mikkelson, 2003; Odenbaugh, 2001)

Density-dependent factors are usually dependent upon the size and density of the population in a division. Other humanistic factors like stress, behavioral patterns, sex ratio, generation, age structure, territorial patterns, facilities of the habitat like water, oxygen, drainage structure, health care structure, mortality and birth rates etc. all play a part in the ecological structure of the population. The important thing is to make sure that all these aspects are balanced out -- this will lead to balanced age structures which will lead to higher survivor rates for populations. Similar patterns can be seen in smaller animals, especially rodents and grasshoppers (Johnson and Omland, 2004).

Some of the factors that can and do impact the population growth percentage in the density-independent format include the following:

Forest fire

Extreme weather

Natural disasters (Johnson and Omland, 2004)

These factors seem to exist and are more far-reaching in underdeveloped countries as the populations here either don't have the resources to counteract the natural disasters or don't have the necessary individual physical characteristics that could help them develop counter off the conditions (Johnson and Omland, 2004; Hanski and Gaggiotti, 2004).

Density-independent growth happens when the current population size is not influenced by the history of the growth rate of the region. This is a characteristic found in the developed countries when environment provides unlimited assets and resources to it population without much competing or conflicting characteristics. This resulted in higher fertility and reproduction rates with the death rates being comparatively very low. This kind of growth in a population in referred to as "geometric" or "exponential" growth (Hanski and Gaggiotti, 2004).

The figure below is an illustrative depiction of the equation used to calculate population growth. This was first designed by mathematician Verhulst (1839) (accessed from http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/ecology.htm on October 20, 2010).

This brings the focus to the age structure that exists in the developed and underdeveloped countries. Mostly the patterns that we see in the age distribution for developed countries is that they have a slower growth rate or no growth rate at all, with balanced birth and death rates, and highest percentage of population for the age groups between 25 to 50. The underdeveloped countries experience faster growth rates with high birth and death rates and majority population percentage being in the below 25 age group. This is illustrated clearly in the diagram below (Hanski and Gaggiotti, 2004).

The factors that influence the age structure include:

Reproduction

Schooling systems

Employment rates and opportunities

Healthcare structure

Successful social sector (Hanski and Gaggiotti, 2004)

These aspects when analyzed individually in developed and underdeveloped countries, we can understand how paramount and superior… READ MORE

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