TOPIC IN BIOLOGY: POPULATION GROWTH An example of a population growing exponenti
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Question
TOPIC IN BIOLOGY: POPULATION GROWTH
An example of a population growing exponentially that exceeded its carrying capacity occurred on Saint Paul Island of the coast of Alaska in the early part of the century. Reindeer were introduced to replace the native caribou which had been hunted to extinction. The reindeer found the island suitable to their needs and their population exploded. After the crash, the population started to grow again and has reached a stable size of 250 in the heard.
a. What might be some reasons for the giant increase in population in population over such a short period of time?
b. What would have caused the dramatic decrease in reindeer populations?
Explanation / Answer
a) Reindeer have been introduced into the Saint Paul island to fill in the niche of native Caribou in the ecosystem. The rapid increase in their numbers let us call it growth rate could be due to the abundance of the food, space, no interspecific competition and definitely, there was no intraspecific competition as the numbers were less and soon the population flourished, reached its carrying capacity in that area.
Carrying capacity of an area is the maximum number of individuals it can support with ample food, space and mate.
b) Once the carrying capacity is reached the intraspecific competition increases among the individuals for the basic needs and if there is any disease it would spread more quickly and act as a density-dependent factor which leads to the sudden decrease in the population size.promotes migration of the animals to other places. Sometimes a natural disaster such as a drought, flood, fire etc., can also lead to a sudden decrease.
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