4.2 Describing Populations Answer Key
Question: Population size
Answer: describes the number of individual organisms present in a given population at given time
Question: Population density
Answer: describes the number of individuals within a population in a certain area
Question: Population distribution
Answer: describes how organisms are arranged within an area
Question: Age structure
Answer: describes the relative numbers of organisms of each age within a population
Question: Age structure diagram
Answer: visual tools scientists use to show the age structure of populations
Question: Sex ratio
Answer: proportion of males to females
Question: When a population size ___________ or remains steady, this is often a sign of healthy population
Answer: increases
Question: If a population size begins to _________ rapidly, this can be a signal that extinction is coming
Answer: declines
Question: Instead of counting each organism individually, ecologists use __________ methods to estimate population sizes
Answer: sampling
Question: A population’s destiny describes how
Answer: crowded the population is