Hartvigsen, G. 2000. The Concept of Carrying Capacity. In press, Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Academic Press. (Invited)

Carrying capacity is the maximum number, density, or biomass of a population that a specific area can support. This number is likely to change over time and depends on changes in environmental factors (e.g., rainfall and temperature), resources (e.g., food, hiding places, and nesting sites), and the presence of predators, disease agents, and competitors over time. The concept of carrying capacity has been explicitly recognized for about 150 years and its use has waxed and waned during this time. Currently, the use of carrying capacity to describe any particular population is made only with great caution although the concept remains intuitive and fosters questions that address our fundamental understanding of what factors regulated populations over time and space.