Which of the given factors primarily determine the carrying capacity of a habitat?
For any population in a natural habitat, the resources (food, mating) for growth are finite and become limiting sooner or later. The maximum number of individuals in a population that can be sustained indefinitely in a given habitat represents its carrying capacity (K). As competition increases and resources become increasingly scarce, populations reach the carrying capacity (K) of their environment, causing their growth rate (the increase in the number of people in a population per unit area) to slow nearly to zero. Hence limiting resources determines the carrying capacity of the environment.
Natality refers to the number of births per unit population per unit time. Example: number of new births per thousand individuals per year in humans. It adds new members to the population.
Mortality refers to the number of deaths per unit population per unit time. Example: number of deaths per thousand individuals per year in humans. It removes individuals from the population.
The size of the population of any species is not a static parameter. It keeps on changing in time, depending on various factors such as availability of food, predation pressure and prevailing weather. Such a change occurring in the population is called population growth.