Prac 5 Understanding population Trends Task 1 Rhinoceros

Step 2 both populations show exponential growth Step 4 Growth factor is approximately equal (~2) for both populations Question: The difference in population size at time interval 5 is due to differences in
initial population size (ie. 30 vs 20). They both grow at the same rate.
Rhinoceros Populations
1200

1000

Population Size

800 Rhinocerus population A Rhinoceros Population B

600

400

200

0 1 2 3 Time 4 5 6

Task 2 Koala

Step 2 both populations show exponential growth Step 4 Koala population A has the highest growth factor (approx 1.8) vs population B
(approx 1.5)

Question: The difference in population size at time interval 5 is due to differences in

growth factor. Both populations have the same initial population size (20) but population A grows more quickly.

Task 2 Koalas
400 350 300

Population Size

250 200 150 100 50 0 1 2 3 Time 4 5 6 Koala population A Koala Population B

Task 3 Zebra carrying capacity

Step 2 both populations show sigmoidal growth. Step 4 Questions

o Growth factor is not constant for either zebra population. o The growth factor is initially high in the first few time intervals, then progressively decreases as the size of the population grows (and approaches carrying capacity). o Zebra population A has the highest growth factor as its population size increases more rapidly than zebra population B. They both have the same population size at time 0 (ie N=20). o The carrying capacity for zebra population A is 600 as the curve reaches an asymptote. The carrying capacity for zebra population B is higher than 600 as the curve has not reached an asymptote, and the growth factor is still >1.0 (ie. 1.03) at population 600. However, its population size at K will not be much greater than 600.
Zebra Populations Task 3
700 600 500

Population Size

400 300 200 100 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Time 7 8 9 10 11

Zebra population A Zebra Population B

Task 4 Zebra competition

Step 2 both populations show sigmoidal growth. Step 4 Questions

o Growth factor is not constant. Population A has the highest growth factor o For zebra population A growth factor follows the expected pattern for sigmoidal growth. It is high at first then decreases as population size approaches carrying capacity. Zebra population B follows the same sigmoidal growth pattern (but with a smaller growth factor) until it approaches carrying capacity, but it then becomes less than 1.0 and population size decreases until it reaches a new carrying capacity. o The carrying capacity for zebra population A is now approximately 450 compared with 600 in Task 3. Carrying capacity for zebra population B is also lower than in Task 3 (now approx 150 compared to approx. 600). o Zebra population A has out-competed population B (ie. it has a larger population size). This can be attributed to a larger growth factor ie. population size grew more quickly. o The effect of competition has been to decrease R for both species (ie. both species are affected by competition).
Zebra Task 4
500 450 400 350

Population Size

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Time 7 8 9 10 11 Zebra population A Zebra Population B

Other questions

Graphs and tables either from the prac or an Excel spreadsheet, but labeled with R. the next four from the text book (Miller (2001) Ch 7). Because the quota for commercial harvesting eg. fishing is determined by dividing total
biomass in the population by the number of fishers, random changes in K mean that the quota will vary from year to year. This may be OK in good years, but in poor years when K is low, the quota will be low. This means a reduced quantity of fish for sale and reduced incomes for the fishers. Because people like to have a stable or growing income, there is pressure to maintain quotas (or increase them) even though the carrying capacity may have declined. This then puts even more pressure on the population (possibly threatening its survival).

Do not carry out calculations for this last question. Basically either increase the number
of licenses, or increase the quota to absorb the predicted increase in biomass (population size).