What does carrying capacity refer to?

Carrying capacity specifically refers to the maximum number of individuals of a particular species that a given environment can sustainably support over time. This concept takes into account the availability of resources such as food, water, shelter, and space, which directly affect the population size that the environment can maintain without leading to degradation of that environment.

When a population exceeds its carrying capacity, it can lead to resource depletion, increased mortality rates, and ultimately a population decline until it falls back within the sustainable limits of the environment. Therefore, understanding carrying capacity is crucial for wildlife management, conservation efforts, and sustaining biodiversity. In contrast, the other options focus on different ecological concepts: total biomass relates to the mass of living organisms in an ecosystem; population growth rate pertains to how quickly a population changes over time; and species diversity refers to the variety of species present in an ecosystem.