carrying capacity

[ kar-ee-ing kuh-pas-i-tee ]

noun

, Ecology.

1. the maximum, equilibrium number of organisms of a particular species that can be supported indefinitely in a given environment. : K

carrying capacity

noun

1. ecology the maximum number of individuals that an area of land can support, usually determined by their food requirements

carrying capacity

/ kăr′ē-ĭng /

1. The maximum population of a particular organism that a given environment can support without detrimental effects.

carrying capacity

1. In ecology , the number of living things that can exist for long periods in a given area without damaging the environment.

Word History and Origins

Origin of carrying capacity¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

But it was the Sierra Club, influenced by its first executive director, David Brower, that emerged as a leading proponent of the notion that the earth had a carrying capacity — that there was an optimum number for the planet’s population to be held at.

From Salon

The population, then at around 211 million, continued to expand, and many who at first worried for the carrying capacity of the planet became preoccupied with walling off the country and keeping the global population at bay.

From Salon

Having lost the backing of the Sierra Club, America’s anti-immigration movement turned more explicitly to climate change — and to one of Zuckerman’s Sierra Club colleagues, Leon Kolankiewicz, an environmental planner versed in sprawl and impact studies and a longtime proponent of the idea that the planet had a limited carrying capacity.

From Salon

California just got too big for its carrying capacity — at least in the sprawling, ranch-house lifestyle.

From Los Angeles Times

Dani Clode, a collaborator within Professor Makin's lab, has developed the Third Thumb, an extra robotic thumb aimed at increasing the wearer's range of movement, enhancing their grasping capability and expanding the carrying capacity of the hand.

From Science Daily