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I. Populations. A. Population Growth. 1. First person to study was Thomas Malthus 2. Noticed that w/o limiting populations would cover the Earth a. Also noted that this would destroy the Earth. 3. While few exhibit this, all populations have the potential to grow rapidly
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A. Population Growth 1. First person to study was Thomas Malthus 2. Noticed that w/o limiting populations would cover the Earth a. Also noted that this would destroy the Earth
3. While few exhibit this, all populations have the potential to grow rapidly a. Exponential growth- each generations growth is a multiple of the previous generation b. Can see it but not for long c. Gives us the 2 rules of population ecology 1. All populations can grow exponentially 2. None do
B. Carrying capacity 1. An ecosystem has limited resources 2. Those unfit to compete for the resources, die 3. Carrying capacity is the number of individuals that can be supported by and ecosystem
C. Calculating Populations 1. Malthus came up with an equation for predicting populations 2. Nt = N0λt a. N0= the population that you start with b. Nt = the population at the time you wish to know c. λ = the growth rate of the population d. t = time you want to expire
3. Example problem: a. What is the population of 2 elephants after 10 years if they have a growth rate of 1.05? b. Nt= 2 x 1.0510 c. Nt = 3.26 elephants