Population problems indicate the pervasive and depressive effect that uncontrolled growth of population can have on many

aspects of human welfare. Nearly all our economic, social, and political problems become more difficult to solve in the face of uncontrolled population growth. It is clear that even in the wealthier nations many individuals and families experience misery and unhappiness because of the birth of unwanted children. The desirability of limiting family size is now fairly generally, though not universally, recognized, particularly among the better-educated and culturally advanced segments of the population in many countries. A broadly based effort to develop clearer understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the reproductive process is a primary requirement. Comparison between 3theories of population growth. Theory Hypothesis Or Explanation Malthus theory He hypothesized; that unchecked or uncontrolled population growth would quickly exceed carrying capacity, leading to overpopulation and social problems. Verhuist theory The theory describes growth or decay of a single species towards its equilibrium population. When the environment is initially very close to its equilibrium level, the growth of a single species follows a generalized law, containing hereditary effects. Ratchet theory This theory is the process by which the genomes of an asexual population accumulate deleterious mutations in an irreversible manner.

Example

Over populated urban Slums: Malthusians would cite epidemics and starvation in overpopulated urban slums, like this one in Cairo, as natural checks on growing populations that have exceeded the carrying capacities of their local environments.

This model or theory may apply to situations where a new species is introduced into an environment, or where some sudden change in birth rate or feeding habits causes a sudden change in the equilibrium population of a species already existing in an environment.

Thomas Malthus Theory.

He warned that population growth would exceed resource growth, leading to disastrous checks on overpopulation. This would occur because population grew exponentially, while food supply grew arithmetically. This is growth in the value of a quantity, in which the rate of growth is proportional to the instantaneous value of the quantity, for instance; when the value has doubled, the rate of increase will also have doubled (the rate may be positive or negative). According to Malthus, without population control, the population would be reduced by catastrophes such as famine or war. As a solution, Malthus urged moral restraint such as; people practicing abstinence, sterilization, and have criminal punishments for those who have more children than they can support. A Malthusian catastrophe refers to naturally occurring checks on population growth such as famine, disease, or war. These Malthusian catastrophes have not taken place on a global scale due to progress in agricultural technology. However, many people argue that future pressures on food production, combined with threats such as global warming, make overpopulation a still more serious threat even in the future. The consequences are that eventually, population will exceed the capacity of agriculture to support the new population numbers. Population would rise until a limit to growth was reached.

Graphical presentation of Malthuss theory:

Population exceeds carrying capacity

Population grows geometrically.

Population is kept in positive checks or control.

* The consequences are that eventually, population will exceed the capacity of agriculture to support the new population numbers. Population would rise until a limit to growth was reached.

Verhuist theory

The Verhulst model (or logistic growth model) is a differential equation, which relates the change in population size over time, to birth and death events that occur over time. The Verhulst model (leading to the familiar S-shaped logistic curve); this model describes the growth or decay of a single species towards its equilibrium population. Verhulst model may apply to situations where a new species is introduced into an environment, or where some sudden change in birth rate or feeding habit causes a sudden change in the equilibrium population of a species already existing in an environment. The logistic curve has three main sections; which are exponential growth and asymptotic growth to the limit; between those two is a segment in which the growth is almost linear.

Verhulst Model Equation.nhdhd

Almost linear

Graphical presentation of Verhulsts theory/model:

K = 1000, p0 = 1, r = 0.3 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1 11 21 31 41 51

*Verhulst proposed that population growth depends not only on the population size but also on the effect of a carrying capacity that would limit growth.

Ratchet theory. The main effect of Mullers ratchet is the accumulation of slightly harmful DNA changes in a population over many generations. This can lead to the extinction of species and is thus of considerable biological interest. "Mullers ratchet" is the name of a particular population genetical model that describes a situation, where many slightly harmful DNA changes occur repeatedly in a population of individuals. The main effect of Mullers ratchet is the accumulation of slightly harmful mutations, despite the fact that selection opposes their fixation in the population. Such mutation accumulation can sometimes lead to eventual extinction. This occurs if: recombination is absent, Population size is finite, Almost no back mutations occur, Slightly deleterious mutation rates are high and Purifying selection is too weak to remove all new deleterious mutations.

A click of the ratchet, rate of the ratchet, extinction and significance. In clonally reproducing populations there is a substantial probability that all fittest individuals ("the fittest class") will eventually acquire a slightly deleterious mutation and therefore go extinct, so that only "second fittest" individuals survive. This process is called a click of the ratchet. After each click all previously second fittest individuals become the new class of fittest individuals, because they carry only one additional deleterious mutation, while all other individuals carry more deleterious mutations. A population will accumulate mutations with a characteristic rate that depends on effective population size, deleterious mutation rate and selection coefficient, which characterizes the size of mutational effects on fitness related traits like survival. If the mutations that accumulate decrease the effective reproductive capacity, they can lead to the extinction of the population. In 1963, Muller, considered the possibilities of extinction exclusively due to the ratchet, but later he wrote in his main paper (Muller, 1964); dismissing this possibility, largely emphasizing the disadvantage of asexual species that compete with sexual species. Thus, extinction was frequently considered only in the context of competing lines. However, according to Lynch & Gabriel; there is no reason, why mutation accumulation might not lead to the extinction of a whole species, even in the absence of competition, if deleterious mutations frequently decrease the absolute reproductive capacity as stated by the mutational meltdown theory. If Mullers ratchet can lead to extinctions, then it might help explaining the features that we observe in surviving species today. An example could be the asexual species that are extremely rare, thus Muller's ratchet might contribute to such.

Graphical presentation:

*Burden of increased number of deadly mutations (genetic load) may eventually cause population to go extinct.

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In conclusion The Malthus model, include the humans biological capacity to reproduce and the major force behind the checks of population growth being the shortage of resources. By comparison, the theory of Malthus concentrated on the population growth exceeding resource growth due to the occurrence of the population growing exponentially, while food supply grew arithmetically, leading to terrible overpopulation effects. The Verhulst theory on the other hand spoke of change in population size over time, to birth and death events that occur over time. Verhulst model disagreed with Malthus, stating that that over time the population will change due to the birth rate and death rate. Although Muller's ratchet is proposed to explain the success of sexual reproduction over asexual reproduction, the negative effect of accumulating irreversible deleterious mutations may not be prevalent in organisms which, while they reproduce asexually, also undergo other forms of recombination. This effect has also been observed in those regions of the genomes of sexual organisms which do not undergo recombination.

REFERENCES: A primer of Population Dynamics. Krishnan N. Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio. Plenum Press. 1996. Lynch & Gabriel, 1990; Lynch et al., 1993. Robert Zwanzig. Generalized Verhulst Laws for Population Growth. Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park. Vol. 70, No. 11, pp. 3048-3051, November 1973. Sociology, Population and Urbanization , and Population Growth [www.google/bundless.com (accessed: 16/03/2014)]. The Logistic Equation. Robert M. Hayes. University of California. (2003) The Growth of World Population Analysis of the Problems and Recommendations for Research and Training. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1963.