If an area is populated by people or animals, they live in that area.

The inner cities are no longer densely populated. 市中心的人口密度已下降。

The river is populated mainly by smaller species of fish. 这条河里大部分是小型鱼类。

to live in an area or place

The settlers began to move inland and populate the river valleys. 移民开始迁往内陆，居住在河谷地带。

to automatically add information to a list or table on a computer

There are several ways to populate the database. 有几种方式给数据库自动增加资料。