Population

SCI/275
Week 4 CheckPoint: Population Size
One of the four factors that produce changes in the population size would be changes on the global scale; this change is brought upon by changes in the amounts of births and deaths. When dealing with a smaller scale such as local populations, for example those found in the United States, factors such as the number of immigrants and emigrants as well as births and deaths all play a part in affecting the population size. In regard to the video one of the factors that appeared to have affected the population size was the importation of animals such as the Nutria of South America. These animals were brought into the Americas as fur-bearer potential in the late 1930's, in later years as the need for fur declined there became an overpopulation of these animals. In addition to them already being imported and affecting population numbers, it was later realized that adult female Nutria over a three-year span would produce 30 or more babies; adding in the likelihood that the babies themselves would breed and have babies. “The average Nutria is 12.0 pounds in weight. The female species has four pairs of mammary glands located on one side of the body, as opposed to be located on the belly. Supposedly, the location of these mammary glands are positioned for the mother to be able to float along the surface of the water and still have the ability to nurse the young with their nose above the surface (Nutria.com).
Adult Nutria eats at reportly ¼ its own weight.   “In other parts of the world, this same animals has different name, it is called a coypu, Only in North America, is this animal referred to as a nutria. In The remote parts of the world, the nutria is simply known as the fur of the animal”. Due to all the wetland, all vegetation is removed from the areas of marsh due to severe damage; the nutria over grazing has direct results to the organic soils being fragile and becoming exposed to forms of erosion by means of tidal...