Population ecology

Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. It is the study of how the population sizes of species change over time and space. The term population ecology is often used interchangeably with population biology or population dynamics. A population will grow (or decline) exponentially as long as the environment experienced by all individuals in the population remains constant.:18In this case, e1 = e therefore ln(e) = 1. 'as a population of populations which go extinct locally and recolonize.':105 Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. It is the study of how the population sizes of species change over time and space. The term population ecology is often used interchangeably with population biology or population dynamics. The development of population ecology owes much to demography and actuarial life tables. Population ecology is important in conservation biology, especially in the development of population viability analysis (PVA) which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given habitat patch. Although population ecology is a subfield of biology, it provides interesting problems for mathematicians and statisticians who work in population dynamics. The most fundamental law of population ecology is Thomas Malthus' exponential law of population growth.