Name: ______________________________________________________ Period: __________

Carrying Capacity Virtual Lab

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_04/BL_04.html

Question:
How does competition affect population growth?

Instructions:
In this virtual lab you will be exploring the carrying capacity of two different types of paramecium.
Carrying capacity is the maximum number of organisms that can be sustained in a given area. A
population has reached carrying capacity when it can no longer grow due to the amount of resources
available. Read and follow the instructions given during the lab. The virtual journal will not save your
information.

Hypothesis:
Make a hypothesis about how you think the two species of Paramecium will grow alone and how they
will grow when they are grown together.

P. caudatum P. aurelia grown P. caudatum P. aurelia

grown alone alone grown in mixed grown in mixed
cells/mL cells/mL culture culture
cells/mL cells/mL

Day 0

Day 2

Day 4

Day 6

Day 8

Day 10

Day 12

Day 14

Day 16
1. Explain how you tested your hypothesis. This needs to be in complete sentences and
detailed! What steps did you take?

2. On what day did the Paramecium caudatum population reach the carrying capacity of the
environment when it was grown alone? How do you know?

3. On what day did the Paramecium aurelia population reach the carrying capacity of the
environment? How do you know?

4. Explain the differences in the population growth patterns of the two Paramecium species. What
does this tell you about how Paramecium aurelia uses available resources?
5. Describe what happened when the Paramecium populations were mixed in the same test tube.
Do the results support the principle of competitive exclusion?

6. Explain how this experiment demonstrates that no two species can occupy the same niche.