Objective: Explain how population sizes in nature are regulated.
Natural population regulation has to do with reproduction and food availability. When there are sufficient amounts and available nutrients, then the population will increase, when the population increases it consumes more food and applies greater amounts of stress on the food sources. Once the amount and availability of food have decreased the consumers of the food resource reciprocally decrease in population. The food resource depletion can happen through increased consumption or natural negative influences such as weather or disease. The consuming population decreases from starvation, diseases associated with malnourishment, or from conflict with competing consumers. In some cased the consumer population can migrate to new areas of food abundance, however, there may already be an established population of consumers in the area. These actions of natural population regulation fall under the concept of natural laws. Humans are not outside of these natural laws and have increased our population to the point of excessive population staining the supply of food resources, without implementing augmentation and support of natural supply systems the human population faces natural law reduction. (DeWitt)
Sam explains that fish, bird, and animal populations are kept in balance by observation and talking to other people about what they see. When the number of animals goes down, you move hunting efforts elsewhere. By using good judgment or common sense a balance or sustainability comes into use. (Demientieff)