Ecological Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size of species that an environment can sustain indefinitely, without causing deterioration to the environment, given the available resources (such as food, habitat, light levels, water) within that environment. Sometimes an additional qualifier is given which adds "during the harshest or most challenging part of a year". However, inclusion of the word "part" is quite subjective in that it doesn't provide an indication of the length of the period, for example, is it a week, month or season? See also Carrying Capacity.