Food shortage

Food shortage simply means non availability of food or scarcity of food to support the existing  population or an individual.

Causes of food shortage

1. Over-population
2. Poor storage facilities

iii. Natural disaster such as flood or volcanic eruption

1. Drought
2. Pest and diseases
3. Bush burning

vii. Poor harvest

viii. Infertility of the soil

1. War
2. Inconsistency in government policies

Effects of food shortage

1.It may lead to malnutrition which reduces their reproductive capacity.

1. It leads to bearing of weak and inactive off springs.

iii. The center food chain and food web may be affected.

1. It leads to emigration

v .It leads to completion

vi .It increases the rate of mortality.

Factors  Affecting  a Population

The factors that may limit the growth or increases the natality or mortality rate or  emigration  rate of population are grouped under the term Environmental Resistance which is also divided into  Density Independent and Density Dependent factors. The density of a population is simply the number of individual in a given unit of an area at a particular time. These are Biotic and Abiotic factors .Abiotic factors includes light, temperature,  heat, edaphic ,precipitation, altitude and latitude.

Biotic factors include  presence or absence of their species, their death , their birth rate, completion ,dispersals, emigration and immigration. Temperature is for an example of a density independent factor while food is density dependent factor

QUESTIONS (POST YOUR ANSWERS USING THE COMMENT BOX FOR EVALUATION AND DISCUSSION)

1a..Define the term population

b.List two biotic abiotic factors each that affect population growth

1. What are effects of food shortage on a population?