Species vs Population
Ecology describes all the relationships in biology, and species and population are main parts of those descriptions. Both species and population are biotic components consisting animals of the same kind, yet there are interesting differences exhibited between those.
Species
Species is a group of organisms with similar features and the sexual reproduction between a male and a female of them produces a fertile offspring. All the organisms of one particular species possess the same number of chromosomes, which means they have similar morphological, anatomical, and physiological characteristics. Therefore, the ecological niches are more or less similar within each individual. Usually, a particular species has exclusive species-specific features that are not seen in other species. However, the ability to produce a fertile progeny is the basic rule that sorts organisms in one species above all those characteristics described about biological species.
A species could be further divided into subspecies, but there is no much difference among subspecies. According to the taxonomy, there can be any number of species under one genus, which is indeed the ancestor of the species. When writing the genus and species, there is an accepted scientific way to follow; underlined separately in handwritten instances or italicized in typewritten occasions. The species name comes next to the genus in both handwritten and typewritten ways. However, there could be any number of breeds or subspecies inside one particular species. The species is the most important deviation that causes diversity of life, and it is not fair to ask any scientist about the number of species in the world as it is far beyond anyone’s guess.
Population
Population is a widely used term in many disciplines to refer a closely associated group of one kind. The biological definition for the term population is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same place at a certain time. Since these individuals are of the same species, they usually occupy the same niche in the ecosystem with similar habits and habitats. Usually, the individuals in a certain population do interbreed in order to maintain the population size that ensures successful future generations, and their kind is saved. When it is considered in a large-scale, a population could be defined as all the individuals of a particular species living in a large geographical area. As an example, the total number of elephants in a country is the large-scale elephant population size in the country.
Populations are subjected to change with time according to the environmental changes. These changes take place in terms of the size of the population, which is the same as the number of individuals in the population. When the conditions favour the organisms, the population size increases and goes down otherwise. The success of a particular population could be determined via studying the change of population sizes over a timescale, which could be weeks, months, seasons, years, or decades. Instead of counting each individual in a population, scientists perform sampling techniques to estimate the population sizes. A population consists of all the genes of a particular species, which means the gene pool is represented in the entity of population.
What is the difference between Species and Population?
• Species is formed with characters that make it specific in the end, while the population is formed of individuals with those specific characters.
• Population is subjected for changes, but species does not change; if it does, a new species is formed.
• Population has temporal and spatial limits but species do not.
• Species is indicated using a defined methodology, but there is no particular set of regulations to indicate a population.