A limiting factor is any resource or environmental condition that restricts the growth, abundance, or distribution of a population, preventing it from increasing indefinitely.

Types of Limiting Factors

Limiting factors can be divided into two main categories: density-dependent and density-independent.

• Density-dependent factors become more influential as population density increases. Examples include:
  • Competition for food and space

* Predation and parasitism

* Disease, especially when populations are crowded

* Accumulation of waste products

• Density-independent factors affect populations regardless of their size, such as:
  • Natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, fires)

* Extreme temperatures or weather changes

* Human activities (habitat destruction, pollution)

Examples of Limiting Factors

• Limited food or water resources, which restrict population growth when demand exceeds supply

• Lack of physical space for shelter or nesting

• Environmental events (drought, fire) that abruptly reduce population numbers

• Disease outbreaks that spread more rapidly in dense populations

Carrying Capacity

The cumulative effect of limiting factors leads populations to stabilize at a level called the carrying capacity—the maximum population size that an environment can support with its available resources.

Understanding limiting factors helps explain why populations don't grow indefinitely and why balance within ecosystems is maintained.