Name: _________________________ Date: ________________ Hour: ________________ 

 
Carrying Capacity Simulation Lab 
 
To study and further understand what factors affect a population and how these 
factors can be adjusted to maintain sustainable life, we will use the SEPUP Fishery 
Simulation. By changing the variables within each stage of the simulation, you can 
determine how the population can be sustainable and how humans can change or 
affect the environment. 
 
To begin, we must first define our key vocabulary terms: 
● Sustainability: _______________________________________________________________ 
● Carrying capacity: __________________________________________________________ 
● Limiting factor: ______________________________________________________________ 
● Density-dependent: ________________________________________________________ 
● Density-independent: ______________________________________________________ 
 
After defining our key terms, you can then access the SEPUP Fishery Simulation via this 
link (​http://sepuplhs.org/high/sgi/teachers/fishery_sim.html​ ). Click Start and you will be 
taken to Stage 1 of the simulation. While you are exploring, think about: 
● What happens to the population as the variables change? 
● What happens to the sustainability of the population? 
● What settings cause the population growth rate to remain steady? 
● What are the limiting factors? 
Follow along in the tutorial to see what each section of the simulation tells you about the 
fish population. Your aim is to find the combination of variables for the population to 
reach a sustainable carrying capacity. At the end of each stage, before moving to the 
next section, you may want to take a picture of your graph or write down any data you 
might need. 
 
 
Stage 1:  
In this stage, you will examine how birth rate, death rate, and migration rate affect the 
sustainability of the Avril Gulf tuna population. 
 
● Adjust the birth rate, death rate, and migration rate in the simulation how you 
hypothesize would increase the fish population to a stable carrying capacity 
● Press Play and watch the population graph in the upper right, noticing how your 
variable levels impact the population changes 
● You can adjust the variables during the simulation to reach and maintain a 
stable state 
● Answer the following questions in regards to this stage 
 
1. What are the limiting factors?   
 
2. What is your carrying capacity?  
 
 Stage 2: 
In this stage you will examine how predators, amount of food, and incidents of disease 
and pollution affect the sustainability of the Avril Gulf tuna population. 
 
● Adjust the variables of predators and food abundance in the simulation 
● The disease and pollution variables are random and not able to be adjusted 
● Repeat this Stage until disease and pollution have both affected your population.  
● The best way to ensure that you know how pollution/disease have affected your 
population is to keep the remaining variables constant. 
● Press Play and notice how your variable levels impact the population changes 
● Answer the following questions in regards to this stage 
 
3. What happened immediately when pollution occurred?  
 
 
4. How long did it take the population to recover after pollution occurred?  
 
 
5. What happened immediately after disease occurred?  
 
 
6. How long did it take the population to recover after disease occurred?  
 
 
 
 
Stage 3: 
In this stage you will examine how fishing intensity and length of fishing season affect 
the sustainability of the Avril Gulf tuna population. 
 
● Adjust the fishing levels for each season to attempt to reach a stable carrying 
capacity for the fish population 
● Press Play to start the simulation and notice how your fishing levels impact the 
population changes 
● Reset and change the variables to find the best combination for the tuna 
population 
● Answer the following questions in regards to this stage 
 
7. Some fishing will occur, as humans interact with the environment. Find a pattern 
that will allow the tuna population to remain at a carrying capacity of 60,000. 
What fishing regulations would maintain this population size?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stage 4: 
In this stage all of the variables can be manipulated to determine their collective effect 
on the sustainability of the Avril Gulf tuna population. 
 
● Adjust any and all of the variables provided within this stage 
● Some variables, such as disease and pollution, will still appear within the 
simulation at random 
● Press Play and notice how your variable levels impact the population changes 
● Answer the following questions in regards to this stage 
 
8. What factors allowed for the maximum amount of fishing while maintaining the 
fish population? Record the greatest amount of fishing allowable.  
 
 
 
 
 
9. Which factors are density-dependent and which are density-independent?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. How could a model, such as this simulation, help fisheries biologists make 
recommendations about setting fishing limits? Explain your answer.