Carrying Capacity

Carrying capacity is the ability of an environment to provide the resources for life-forms to survive and reproduce indefinitely. Every species or organism has needs that must be met for it to survive, but if any population gets too large in relation to the environment's ability to provide for those needs, the ecosystem becomes overloaded and cannot provide basic needs to every organism. Human beings, for example, need space, clear air and water, food, and other essentials to survive and maintain a certain quality of existence, but if the human population gets too large relative to its environment and resource availability, the carrying capacity of the ecosystem may be overtaxed with adverse effects on human welfare. An ecosystem does have limits relative to the size ...