A signal reaches a cell mostly in the form of a signalling molecule binding to a receptor on the cell surface. This binding activates a chain of events that amplifies the signal and transfers it inside the cell. Protein kinases phosphorylate proteins and cause their activation or deactivation, or in general modify their activity. When a signalling molecule binds to a receptor, a cascade is activated and the second messengers, such as cAMP, are synthesized. cAMP molecules activate the protein kinases, which phosphorylate specific proteins and activate them.
I'm assuming it would be Population Density. My class never covered this subject greatly, but the definition is "Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume;" which sounds like what you are looking for.
