Limiting Factors
Limiting Factor:A limiting factor is an environmental factor that tends to limit population size. There are two different types of limiting factors: density-dependent and density-independent. The difference between the two is that density-dependent limiting factors rely on population size; the larger a population, the bigger impact a density-dependent limiting factor will have. Density-independent limiting factors do NOT rely on population size, instead they affect all populations equally.
Predation: In predation, one organism kills and consumes another. Predation provides energy to prolong the life and promote the reproduction of the organism that does the killing, the predator, to the detriment of the organism being consumed, the prey. Predation influences organisms at two ecological levels. At the level of the individual, the prey organism has an abrupt decline in fitness, as measured by its lifetime reproductive success, because it will never reproduce again. At the level of the community, predation reduces the number of individuals in the prey population.
Paratisim: Parasites can function as both predators and prey. Parasites that feed on hosts engage in a special type of predation Alternatively, parasites can also serve as important sources of prey . For example, predators on islands in the Gulf of California, including lizards, scorpions and spiders, are one- to two orders of magnitude more abundant on islands with sea bird colonies because they feed on bird. Predators also inadvertently consume parasites during the consumption of infected hosts .The contributions of parasites to the diet of predators can be significant. The roles of parasites as predators and prey suggest that considerable amounts of energy may directly flow through parasites in food webs, despite their small size and cryptic nature.
Disease:
Infectious diseases have long been known to cause devastating illnesses in humans, crops, and livestock, but until recently pathogens were assumed to have little impact on wild plant and animal populations, except in rare and sometimes spectacular die-off events. During the past two decades, it has become increasingly apparent that parasitic organisms are not only a common and integral part of ecosystems, but they also influence the abundance of wild populations, can cause extinctions of their hosts, and serve as drivers of evolution. The field of disease ecology, defined as the ecological study of host-pathogen interactions within the context of their environment and evolution, has grown out of this awareness of the pervasive role of pathogens in ecosystems. At the foundation of disease ecology are efforts to understand pathogen transmission and spread over space and time and impacts on host populations. These goals differ from those of related fields such as parasitology, which focuses on parasite taxonomy and life cycles, and epidemiology, which aims to identify risk factors for infectious and non-infectious diseases. Here we review the conceptual and mathematical foundations of disease ecology and consider how ecological and evolutionary studies can be used to improve disease
Food/Shelter:Food and nesting space are the most important resources for ants and contribute strongly to the structure of ant communities. Most ants can be considered omnivores; however, differences in morphology and digestive capabilities constrain the availability of food sources and contribute to fundamental niche differentiation.The location and distribution of nest sites, and whether nests are static or dynamic, affect the diets that are available to ants, given their limited foraging range. Ants diets have been demonstrated to affect competition and territorial behavior. When food is available continuously, territoriality and permanent nests may be favored, while short‐lived food sources require more frequent nest relocation. Consequently, nest types are highly variable, ranging from relatively persistent nests in the ground or wood cavities to dynamic, flexible bivouacs formed only by the worker's bodies.
Water: Water is a limiting factor because if an animal does not have any water to drink then it will eventually die. An example can be a snake makes it`s way all the way to the dessert and it had like no water to drink then it will eventually die because it cant keep on running without water so if they do realize that they have moved in the wrong area then they will move to some place else where it is not that dry.
Space: Space is a very big limiting factor because in many many place they are not enough space to build things and where animals can`t build there shelter. An example of this can be if there was a bird that had moved to a very populated area and there was no room for the bird to even make a nest in the trees because they would all be taken up then the bird would have to realize that it had to move in another area or it can fight for space.
Weather: How weather is a limiting factor is because it is very unpredictable. You cant tell what the weather is going to be like the next day unless you watch the news channel. If an animal is moving to a new location and that location is very dry and that location is used to living in a cool moist area then that animal will move to another location or will adapt to the new environment.
Carrying capacity:
Many kinds of animals can increase in numbers very quickly, and may temporarily exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat. This results in stress, starvation, disease, predation and parasites, poor reproductive success and damage to the habitat. For example, multiplying muskrats can very quickly eat all the vegetation in a marsh. With the vegetation gone, food becomes the limiting factor and the muskrats may starve or move to another area. The marsh now has a reduced carrying capacity for muskrats until the vegetation grows back again.
Predation: In predation, one organism kills and consumes another. Predation provides energy to prolong the life and promote the reproduction of the organism that does the killing, the predator, to the detriment of the organism being consumed, the prey. Predation influences organisms at two ecological levels. At the level of the individual, the prey organism has an abrupt decline in fitness, as measured by its lifetime reproductive success, because it will never reproduce again. At the level of the community, predation reduces the number of individuals in the prey population.
Paratisim: Parasites can function as both predators and prey. Parasites that feed on hosts engage in a special type of predation Alternatively, parasites can also serve as important sources of prey . For example, predators on islands in the Gulf of California, including lizards, scorpions and spiders, are one- to two orders of magnitude more abundant on islands with sea bird colonies because they feed on bird. Predators also inadvertently consume parasites during the consumption of infected hosts .The contributions of parasites to the diet of predators can be significant. The roles of parasites as predators and prey suggest that considerable amounts of energy may directly flow through parasites in food webs, despite their small size and cryptic nature.
Disease:
Infectious diseases have long been known to cause devastating illnesses in humans, crops, and livestock, but until recently pathogens were assumed to have little impact on wild plant and animal populations, except in rare and sometimes spectacular die-off events. During the past two decades, it has become increasingly apparent that parasitic organisms are not only a common and integral part of ecosystems, but they also influence the abundance of wild populations, can cause extinctions of their hosts, and serve as drivers of evolution. The field of disease ecology, defined as the ecological study of host-pathogen interactions within the context of their environment and evolution, has grown out of this awareness of the pervasive role of pathogens in ecosystems. At the foundation of disease ecology are efforts to understand pathogen transmission and spread over space and time and impacts on host populations. These goals differ from those of related fields such as parasitology, which focuses on parasite taxonomy and life cycles, and epidemiology, which aims to identify risk factors for infectious and non-infectious diseases. Here we review the conceptual and mathematical foundations of disease ecology and consider how ecological and evolutionary studies can be used to improve disease
Food/Shelter:Food and nesting space are the most important resources for ants and contribute strongly to the structure of ant communities. Most ants can be considered omnivores; however, differences in morphology and digestive capabilities constrain the availability of food sources and contribute to fundamental niche differentiation.The location and distribution of nest sites, and whether nests are static or dynamic, affect the diets that are available to ants, given their limited foraging range. Ants diets have been demonstrated to affect competition and territorial behavior. When food is available continuously, territoriality and permanent nests may be favored, while short‐lived food sources require more frequent nest relocation. Consequently, nest types are highly variable, ranging from relatively persistent nests in the ground or wood cavities to dynamic, flexible bivouacs formed only by the worker's bodies.
Water: Water is a limiting factor because if an animal does not have any water to drink then it will eventually die. An example can be a snake makes it`s way all the way to the dessert and it had like no water to drink then it will eventually die because it cant keep on running without water so if they do realize that they have moved in the wrong area then they will move to some place else where it is not that dry.
Space: Space is a very big limiting factor because in many many place they are not enough space to build things and where animals can`t build there shelter. An example of this can be if there was a bird that had moved to a very populated area and there was no room for the bird to even make a nest in the trees because they would all be taken up then the bird would have to realize that it had to move in another area or it can fight for space.
Weather: How weather is a limiting factor is because it is very unpredictable. You cant tell what the weather is going to be like the next day unless you watch the news channel. If an animal is moving to a new location and that location is very dry and that location is used to living in a cool moist area then that animal will move to another location or will adapt to the new environment.
Carrying capacity:
Many kinds of animals can increase in numbers very quickly, and may temporarily exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat. This results in stress, starvation, disease, predation and parasites, poor reproductive success and damage to the habitat. For example, multiplying muskrats can very quickly eat all the vegetation in a marsh. With the vegetation gone, food becomes the limiting factor and the muskrats may starve or move to another area. The marsh now has a reduced carrying capacity for muskrats until the vegetation grows back again.
Here is a video of predation. A cheeta hunts and kills a Thomson's Gazelle on the Masai Mara in Kenya, Africa..