Population

For the use of the word population in statistics, see statistical population.


In the most common sense of the word, a population is the collection of people, or organisms of a particular species, living in a geographic area.

Demography studies the size, age and sex structure, mortality, reproductive behaviour and growth of human populations. Other aspects are studied in sociology, economics and geography. Plant or animal populations are studied in biology and in particular, population biology, a branch of ecology, and population genetics.

In biology, population denotes a breeding group, whose members breed solely among themselves, for instance through physical isolation, though biologically they could breed with all members of the species or subspecies.

Population density measures the number of people or organisms per unit of area. Variants may express the population per unit of habitable, inhabited, productive (or potentially productive) or cultivated area.

A particular geographic area of land is said to have a carrying capacity, representing the maximum population which it can support. Some observers of human societies believe that the concept of carrying capacity also applies to human population, and that unchecked population growth can result in a Malthusian catastrophe. Others oppose this view.


Population may also mean the process of populating a geographic area, as by procreation or immigration.



In the News

[Scary] Pregnant woman says 'maternal instinct' helped her kill attack
FORT MITCHELL, Ky. - A pregnant woman who killed her attacker said a maternal instinct helped her fight off the woman who investigators believe was after her unborn child."I do believe that I fought harder because it was for my child,"Sarah Brady told ABC's "Good Morning America"in interviews aired Sunday and Monday. "It is a maternal instinct to protect your child to the very end."Katherine Smith, 22, died Thursday after luring Brady to her apartment to pick up a package supposedly delivered to the wrong address. When Smith pulled out a knife and attacked the pregnant woman, Brady fought back, striking Smith on the head with an ash tray and stabbing her three times with her own knife, police said. Brady, 26, said she didn't know Smith before the two met at Smith's apartment and can't be certain why Smith wanted to kill her."I really am not sure what was going through her mind,"Brady told ABC. "The only thing I thought was that she was going to kill me and my child and that is the only thing that ran through my mind."

Nietzsche: A Selected Annotated Bibliography
Research guide for the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who "has been read in vastly different and contradictory ways. He has been appropriated by both the right and the left; read as a fascist and a socialist, a conservative and a revolutionary, a religious thinker and an atheist."The annotated bibliography covers letters, bibliographies, concordance, biographies, specific theories and works, and much more. From the New York Public Library.

Satellite Data Instrumental In Combating Desertification
With land degradation in dryland regions continuing to worsen, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has agreed on scientist-recommended indicators for monitoring and assessing desertification that signatory countries must report on.

[Scary] Pregnant woman says 'maternal instinct' helped her kill attack
FORT MITCHELL, Ky. - A pregnant woman who killed her attacker said a maternal instinct helped her fight off the woman who investigators believe was after her unborn child."I do believe that I fought harder because it was for my child,"Sarah Brady told ABC's "Good Morning America"in interviews aired Sunday and Monday. "It is a maternal instinct to protect your child to the very end."Katherine Smith, 22, died Thursday after luring Brady to her apartment to pick up a package supposedly delivered to the wrong address. When Smith pulled out a knife and attacked the pregnant woman, Brady fought back, striking Smith on the head with an ash tray and stabbing her three times with her own knife, police said. Brady, 26, said she didn't know Smith before the two met at Smith's apartment and can't be certain why Smith wanted to kill her."I really am not sure what was going through her mind,"Brady told ABC. "The only thing I thought was that she was going to kill me and my child and that is the only thing that ran through my mind."

Keep Your Eyes On The Puck: Hockey Goalies With The Quiet Eye Have A B
Researchers at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Kinesiology may have found the secret to dazzling goaltending, after they discovered the exact spot a goalie needs to watch to be successful.

Plant Physiology: Chloroplast F And M Thioredoxins Discovered In Nonph
Scientists have found that the f and m type plant thioredoxins previously thought to be localized only in chloroplasts are found in other, nonphotosynthetic, tissues, where they may have multiple functions. They have now established the presence of these redox proteins in tissues other than the chloroplast.

City Site Was Dinosaur Dining Room
A dinosaur bone bed in southwest Edmonton that served as a feeding area for the direct ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex has revealed that two dinosaurs, thought to have lived in different eras, actually lived at the same time. Scientists digging for bones at the site this year discovered fossils of Edmontosaurus and Saurolophus this year.

[Unlikely] Iowa Man Wins $100K Lottery for 2nd Time
An eastern Iowa man has beat extraordinary odds by winning $100,000 from the Iowa Lottery's Cash Game a second time. K. Morris Richardson picked up his second jackpot on Tuesday.

Antarctic Warming To Reduce Animals At Base Of Ecosystem, Shift Some P
The warming most global climate models predict will do more harm than simply raise the sea levels that most observers fear. It will make drastic changes in fragile ecosystems throughout the world, especially in the Antarctic. A warming trend during the last few decades in the Antarctic Peninsula has already forced penguin populations to migrate south and perhaps diminished the abundance of krill that are at the base of the massive food chain at the bottom of the world.

Closest Look Ever At Native Human Tissue
Seeing proteins in their natural environment and interactions inside cells has been a long-standing goal. Using an advanced microscopy technique called cryo-electron tomography, researchers have visualized proteins responsible for cell-cell contacts for the first time. They now have 3-D images of human skin at molecular resolution that reveal the molecular Velcro-like organization that interlinks cells.




MP3 Music Downloads

Preview songs, Download Free Music,Burn CDs at ITunes.com
iTunes_RGB_9mm

 


Google




InformationQuickFind.com - Find Information Fast

Links | Privacy Policy | News |