Population pressure
Population pressure, a term summarizing the stress brought about by an excessive
overconsumption of available resources and ensuing environmental degradation by otherwise-normal population densities.[1] Similarly, when the carrying capacity of the environment goes down, unchanged population numbers may prove too high and again produce significant pressure.[2]
"Pressure" is to be understood metaphorically and hints at the analogy between a gas or fluid that under
land conversion of previously-uninhabited areas and development. When no space for evading the pressure is available, another severe consequence can be the reduction or even extinction
of the population under pressure.
Based on ideas by
Thomas Malthus as laid out in An Essay on the Principle of Population, Charles Darwin theorized that population pressure must generate a struggle for existence in which many individuals die, and better-adapted variants are more likely to survive and to reproduce.[3]
See also
- Malthusian catastrophe
- Population growth
- Overshoot (population)
- Sustainable population
External links
- "Population Pressure - an overview". ScienceDirect Topics. 2016-01-01. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
References
- ^ "World population growth: Are we too many?". Allianz.com. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- PMID 28125659.
- ISBN 9780080430768. Retrieved 2020-12-07.