GEMET
General
Multilingual
Environmental
Thesaurus
carrying capacity
Definition

maximum supply of biological products and services that can be provided by the natural environment so that renewable resources are not depleted faster than they can be regenerated and that ecological systems remain viable

Other relations
Scope note

Improved definition (EN only): 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.

Concept URL: http://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/concept/15093