13.1: Introduction to Applied Population Biology

Staff from the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) conducting an aerial survey over Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania. Photograph by Daniel Rosengren, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FZS_plane_conducting_an_aerial_survey_in_Selous_Game_Reserve,_Tanzania.jpg, CC BY 4.0.

Even without human influences, the size of any wildlife population may be stable, increasing, decreasing, or even fluctuating. These population changes, combined with occasional natural perturbations, can and have driven some species and populations to extinction. Such natural extinction events generally occur at local scales, and are interspersed by long periods of little change, so that overall ecosystem stability is not compromised. Moreover, as explained by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (e.g. Bongers et al., 2009), localized disturbances and subsequent local extinctions play an important role in maintaining regional biodiversity, as they increase opportunities for a greater variety of species to live in an area (Figure 13.1), at least until succession drives them out again. Some species that colonize the empty niches left by extinctions or extirpations may even evolve to become new species over time.

Figure 13.1 A treefall gap allowing sunshine to penetrate the canopy in the sacred Bubi Forest on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Treefall gaps and other localised natural disturbances benefit regional biodiversity because they provide opportunities for a greater variety of species to eke out an existence. Responses do vary, however, from ecosystem to ecosystems: while fire disturbance maintains most grassland and savannah ecosystems, it has an overall negative impact on tropical forests. Photograph by Luke L. Powell/Biodiversity Initiative, CC BY 4.0.

Human-driven disturbances often occur at larger scales and more frequently than natural perturbations. Consider, for example, the large amount of natural forests that are converted to agricultural land every year, or climate change impacts that are affecting every ecosystem on Earth. Because these disturbances are so widespread and occur with such regularity, they are causing a wholesale destabilization of the natural environment. Many species and populations are unable to cope with these fast and vast changes and are consequently undergoing sharp declines. The human-driven extinctions that follow are leaving compromised ecosystems more vulnerable to invasions by widespread generalist species and exotic species. What remains is an environment dominated by only a few species unable to offer many of the ecosystem services we depend upon. To prevent further harm, we need to identify the most vulnerable species and ecosystems and develop strategies that can slow or even reverse current extinction rates. But how can we identify the species most likely to go extinctions soon, and how can we determine which actions should be taken to save them? The field of population biology, defined as the study of population dynamics over time and space, provides us the tools to answer many of these questions.