The greatest number of distinct organisms that can be supported by a particular environment, given the availability of feed, shelter, drink, and other resources, is known as the carrying capacity of that ecosystem. According to population ecology, the mentioned notion is the maximum load that the ecosystem can support at a time when the number of newborns and deaths in a population is equivalent (Meyer, 2004). Using a logistic function, the impact of carrying capacity on community structure is modeled. The term refers to the maximum number of people that an ecosystem, farm, or fishery can sustain. It should be noted that before the 1950s, the phrase “carrying capacity” had been used to refer to population restrictions for a number of different activities.
Various projections indicate that “peak human” will occur in the years 2070 or 2080 when the world’s population will range from 9.4 billion to 10.4 billion (Meyer, 2004). The population is anticipated to begin to fall after this point; however, it may take some time. If we reach 10.4 billion people, the UN anticipates the population to stay at this rate for another 20 years. Some routes have already been established; nevertheless, it is unclear how far humankind will spread throughout the world. One more is that despite potential efforts to reduce it, the human population will probably keep increasing for a while.
Finding a means to coexist while protecting the environment might be the human species’ biggest challenge yet, especially with mankind poised to grow even more dominant in the coming years. The difficulty of guaranteeing equitable and sustainable development in the future may be made more difficult by rapid population growth (Whitty, 2010). Global population increase may be slowed by achieving sustainability goals, especially those that deal with health, literacy, and gender equality.
References
Meyer, M. (2004). Birth death. Newsweek.
Whitty, J. (2010). The last taboo. Mother Jones.