Overpopulation

Overpopulation occurs when a species' population exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. It can result from an increase in births (fertility rate), a decline in the mortality rate, an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources.[1] When overpopulation occurs, individuals limit available resources to survive.[2][3]

This article is about overpopulation in biology in general. For the human overpopulation, see human overpopulation.

The change in number of individuals per unit area in a given locality is an important variable that has a significant impact on the entire ecosystem.[4]

Animal overpopulation

In the wild, overpopulation often causes growth in the populations of predators. This has the effect of controlling the prey population and ensuring its evolution in favor of genetic characteristics that render it less vulnerable to predation (and the predator may co-evolve, in response).[5]

In the absence of predators, species are bound by the resources they can find in their environment, but this does not necessarily control overpopulation, at least in the short term. An abundant supply of resources can produce a population boom followed by a population crash. Rodents such as lemmings and voles have such cycles of rapid population growth and subsequent decrease. Snowshoe hares populations similarly cycled dramatically, as did those of one of their predators, the lynx.[6]

The introduction of a foreign species has often caused ecological disturbance, as when deer and trout were introduced into Argentina[7] when rabbits were introduced to Australia, and indeed when predators such as cats were introduced in turn to attempt to control the rabbits.[8]

Some species such as locusts experience large natural cyclic variations, experienced by farmers as plagues.[9]

Human overpopulation
Main article: Human overpopulation

Human overpopulation occurs when the number of humans in a specific geographical location exceeds the carrying capacity of the place occupied by that group. Overpopulation can further be viewed, in a long term perspective, as existing when a population cannot be maintained given the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources or given the degradation of the capacity of the environment to give support to the population.[10]

The term human overpopulation also refers to the relationship between the entire human population and its environment: the Earth,[11] or to smaller geographical areas such as countries. Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates against the background of high fertility rates,[12] an increase in immigration, or an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas to be overpopulated if the area has a meagre or non-existent capability to sustain life (e.g. a desert). Advocates of population moderation cite issues like quality of life, carrying capacity and risk of starvation as a basis to argue against continuing high human population growth and for population decline. Scientists suggest that the human impact on the environment as a result of overpopulation, profligate consumption and proliferation of technology has pushed the planet into a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene.[13][14][15][16]

See also

References
  1. "Dhirubhai Ambani International Model United Nations 2013" (PDF). Daimun. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  2. Pimentel, David, et al. "Natural resources and an optimum human population." Population and environment 15.5 (1994): 347-369.
  3. Pimentel, David, et al. "Will limits of the Earth's resources control human numbers?." Environment, Development and Sustainability 1.1 (1999): 19-39.
  4. Singh, Rajeev Pratap, Anita Singh, and Vaibhav Srivastava, eds. Environmental issues surrounding human overpopulation. IGI Global, 2016.
  5. Scott, Joe. "Predators and their prey - why we need them both". Conservation Northwest. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  6. K. G. Poole. (1994). Characteristics of an Unharvested Lynx Population during a Snowshoe Hare Decline The Journal of Wildlife Management, 58(4), 608-618
  7. Speziale, Karina; Sergio, Lambertucci; Jose´, Tella; Martina, Carrete. "Dealing with Non-native Species: what makes the Difference in South America?" (PDF). Digital.CSIC Open Science. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  8. Zukerman, Wendy (2009). "Australia's Battle with the Bunny". ABC Science.
  9. Simpson, Stephen J.; Sword, Gregory A. (2008). "Locusts". Current Biology 18:r364-366. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.02.029
  10. Ehrlich, Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. (1990). The population explosion. London: Hutchinson. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0091745519. Retrieved 20 July 2014. When is an area overpopulated? When its population can not be maintained without rapidly depleting non-renewable resources [39] (or converting renewable resources into non-renewable ones) and without decreasing the capacity of the environment to support the population. In short, if the long-term carrying capacity of an area is clearly being degraded by its current human occupants, that area is overpopulated.
  11. "Global food crisis looms as climate change and population growth strip fertile land Archived 29 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine". The Guardian (31 August 2007).
  12. Zinkina J., Korotayev A. Explosive Population Growth in Tropical Africa: Crucial Omission in Development Forecasts (Emerging Risks and Way Out). World Futures 70/2 (2014): 120–139.
  13. "Coping with the Anthropocene". Phys.org. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  14. Vaughan, Adam (7 January 2016). "Human impact has pushed Earth into the Anthropocene, scientists say". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  15. Dimick, Dennis (21 September 2014). "As World's Population Booms, Will Its Resources Be Enough for Us?". National Geographic. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  16. Subramanian, Meera (2019). "Anthropocene now: influential panel votes to recognize Earth's new epoch". Nature News. Retrieved 1 March 2020. Twenty-nine members of the AWG supported the Anthropocene designation and voted in favour of starting the new epoch in the mid-twentieth century, when a rapidly rising human population accelerated the pace of industrial production, the use of agricultural chemicals and other human activities.
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