Discussion Questions, Week 4 What is the difference between population and per capita growth rate?

-population growth rate is how fast the size of a population of species grows whereas per capita is by individual If a population doubles every 15 days, what is its per capita growth rate? -r=ln2/15 How has human per capita growth been constant or changed over time? What factors have caused these changes? -growth rate has become faster as has doubling times maybe due to technological advancements How can you estimate a species carrying capacity (K) based on changes in its population size? What are the problems with doing this? -use birth and death rate -in a changing environment, K doesnt only depend on population density How do per capita and population growth rate change with population density in the logistic model? What causes these changes? What kinds of things can cause positive density dependent population growth? -ability to find mates, prey outnumber predators, ecosystem engineering What advantages does asexual reproduction have over sexual reproduction?

-less resources used looking for mate, can occur faster What is a potential advantage of complex life histories? -growing out of disease in different life stages Give some examples of life history tradeoffs -survival now and time to mature -survival and reproduction -size vs number of offspring Which of the following life tables would you expect to have higher reproductive value of two-year old individuals? A