ABSTRACT
Population dynamics is the study of those concepts that predict or explain an animal’s presence, abundance, and concentration in a particular habitat. This chapter focuses on those principles of population dynamics that moderate species presence, abundance, and concentration in urban communities. When studying a wildlife population, scientists may ask the following broad questions:
The final section of this chapter examines the impacts of human development on the population dynamics of urban wildlife species. These impacts are discussed in terms of habitat fragmentation (i.e.,
habitat patches), including the influence of corridors (issues not discussed in Chapter 7), supplemental feeding, animal damage control, and introduction of toxic elements into the urban environment.
