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Science · Grade 12

Populations and Resource Constraints

Learners treat a population as a stock with births and immigration flowing in and deaths and emigration flowing out. They calculate growth rates and doubling times with the rule of 70, explain the demographic transition, read age structures and dependency ratios to predict population momentum, and use logistic growth to reason about carrying capacity, overshoot and dieback. The course ends with ecological footprints, biocapacity and the IPAT relation, and with the limits of each measure.

  • 5 lessons
  • About 115 minutes
  • Populations and limits check: 11 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, estimate, highlight a text, match pairs, type a number and place on a number line
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What learners will discover

  • Calculate a population's growth rate from crude birth, death and net migration rates, and estimate doubling time with the rule of 70, explaining the constant-rate assumption behind it.
  • Explain the stages of the demographic transition using birth- and death-rate data, including total fertility rate and replacement-level fertility.
  • Interpret age-structure diagrams and dependency ratios to predict future population change, including population momentum.
  • Use the logistic model and carrying capacity to explain resource limits, density-dependent factors, overshoot and dieback, and the limits of a fixed carrying capacity for humans.
  • Calculate and interpret ecological footprint relative to biocapacity and the relation impact = population × affluence × technology, including their limitations.

Lessons

  1. Growth rates and doubling time 8 steps4 practiceabout 22 min
  2. The demographic transition 8 steps5 practiceabout 23 min
  3. Age structure and momentum 8 steps4 practiceabout 22 min
  4. Carrying capacity and limits 8 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  5. Footprints, biocapacity and IPAT 8 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  6. Populations and limits check 11 questions at the end

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