Stochasticity is something that is randomly determined or happens by chance. Random variation or stochasticity in the environment influences Growth, Food availability, prey-predator relation, Population size, colonization, and random order of immigration/ emigration which ultimately determines the population dynamics of species. Stochasticity has severe impacts mainly when the environment fluctuates and the population is small.
Types of stochasticity
- Demographic stochasticity
- Environmental stochasticity
- Genetic stochasticity
The variation in population size brought on by the random occurrences of birth, death, and dispersal is known as demographic stochasticity.
Variations of the population due to unpredictable changes in the environment such as weather, resource, disaster, Catastrophes, etc is known as Environmental stochasticity.
Likewise, Genetic stochasticity means unpredictable fluctuations in gene frequencies brought on by mechanisms including genetic variety, inbreeding (depression), and random genetic drift.
The random or chance events occurring in animal populations result negatively when the population is already in an unfavorable situation. It leads to non viable population ultimately contributes to population extinction. Demographic and genetic stochasticity target the specific species or population while in contrast, Environmental Stochasticity increases the risk of extinction over the large range of species.
