EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -A limiting factor is anything that constrains a population’s size and slows or stops it from growing. Some examples of limiting factors are biotic, like food, mates, and competition with other organisms for resources.

Detailed explanation-2: -Factors that decrease population growth can be defined as environmental stress including limitations in food, predation, and other density-dependant factors (Sibley & Hone 2002). However, many sources of environmental stress affect population growth, irrespective of the density of the population.

Detailed explanation-3: -Density-dependent limiting factors cause a population’s per capita growth rate to change-typically, to drop-with increasing population density. One example is competition for limited food among members of a population. Density-independent factors affect per capita growth rate independent of population density.

Detailed explanation-4: -Resources such as food, water, light, space, shelter and access to mates are all limiting factors. If an organism, group or population does not have enough resources to sustain it, individuals will die through starvation, desiccation and stress, or they will fail to produce offspring.