The
carrying capacity of a biological
species in an
environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food,
habitat,
water, and other necessities available in the environment. In
population biology, carrying capacity is defined as the environment's maximal load, which is different from the concept of population equilibrium. Its effect on
population dynamics may be approximated in a
logistic model, although this simplification ignores the possibility of
overshoot which real systems may exhibit.