What is a limiting factor?

The

restrictive factor concerns any state that is required by the species that becomes insufficient or missing in the environment. If the specific needs are not met, individuals of the population begin to die or inhibit fertility. Some common examples of restrictive factors are food, water, predations or deficiency, water, shelter, gases, ie oxygen and organic chemical compounds. In some cases, a limiting factor may refer to a condition that is too abundant, such as excessive sunlight for specific plant species. It works as a control that prevents uncontrolled growth in the population or may be the one that causes the population to decline and disappear from the habitat.

Most of the time is a limiting factor beneficial to the ecosystem. For example, one who controls one species, such as a predator, can benefit from another like his prey. If the predatory species was not controlled, then the species would really exhaust the prey. MoreoverEdek's overpopulation, which would eventually result in a number of restrictive factors for this group. We saw it in the case of excessive hunting, where people were responsible for the extinction of the Dodo bird and other animals.

Sometimes a predatory species is not uncontrolled by a limiting factor and as such becomes such a condition for another species. Similarly, the lack of predators can reduce the species. Both cases apply especially in the case of established or invasive species. An invasive species that has no natural prey can quickly create large populations that lead to the competition of native food and habitat species.

For example, in the northeastern United States, people have become an extremely limiting factor in indigenous wolves. One of the native prey of wolves is a deer whose population has increased because of their predator's disappearing. The lack of predation becomes a limiting factor because their non -contactRolled population growth results in other factors such as lack of food and disease. In addition, people had problems with overpopulation when a deer tied to the road became a danger of driving or garden pest.