Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Week 3 Assignment: Population Ecology

20 points – 20 questions, 1 point each

Name: Divya Patel

Instructions: Use the corresponding “Population Ecology” Powerpoint on Canvas to help you answer
these questions. You will also need “Week 3 Assignment PPT” for data on Part IV. As always, please fill
in the answers with red font. Use your notes and chapter materials to answer the following questions.
Save this document as a Word (.doc) or PDF file (.pdf) and upload to Canvas by the due date.

Part I. Estimating the Size of the White-tailed Deer Population in 2017

Biologists captured and marked a sample of a white-tailed deer population in July 2017. Twenty (20)
deer were marked with ear tags, and released. In the fall of 2017, hunters harvested some deer during
the archery hunting season and turned them in to a check station. The check station data revealed a
total of 28 deer were harvested, with 12 deer that had ear tags that were attached during the July
trapping period.

1. Use the Lincoln-Petersen Index (N = nM/R) to estimate size of the deer population in 2017.
Show your work in the space below. Round up your N to the nearest whole number.

nM
N=
R
28 ×20
N=
12
N=46.6 ≈ 47.
Part II. Exponential Model of Population Growth
Let’s assume that the deer population in 2017 will grow exponentially for the next 10 years. Use the
population estimate from Part I of this assignment as the white-tailed deer population size in 2017 to
answer the questions on the next page.

dN
=rN
dt
r = intrinsic rate of increase
Biologists studying the Crawford County deer population determined that this value is
1.5. This means that for every one deer, it has on average 1.5 fawns per year.

N = population size
Biologists studying the Boone County population this will be based on your population
estimate (Part I).

t = time = 1 year
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

dN/dt = population growth rate: This is a measure of how much the population changes
during a given amount of time. It can be positive, negative, or 0. Note that this does not
mean that you divide dN by dt.

2. Complete the following population growth as if the deer population grew exponentially.
Remember, r = 1.5 for this deer population! Round to 2 decimal places.

Year N rN dN/dt
(Equals rN for
exponential growth,
so rN and dN/dt
columns should be
same value)
2017 47 47 x 1.5=70.5 70.5
2018 47+70.5=117.5 117.5 x 1.5=176.25 176.25
2019 117.5+176.25=293.75 293.75 x 1.5=440.63 440.63
2020 293.75+440.63=734.38 734.38 x 1.5=1101.57 1101.57
2021 734.38+1101.57=1835.95 1835.95 x 1.5=2753.93 2753.93
2022 1835.95+2753.93=4589.88 4589.88 x 1.5=6884.82 6884.82
2023 4589.88+6884.82=11474.70 11474.70 x 1.5=17212.05 17212.05
2024 11474.70+17212.05=28686.75 28686.75 x 1.5=43030.13 43030.13
2025 28686.75+43030.13=71716.88 71716.88 x 1.5=107575.32 107575.32
2026 71716.88+107575.32=179292.20 179292.20 x 1.5=268938.30 268938.30
2027 179292.20+268938.30=448230.5 448230.50 x 1.5=672345.75 672345.75
0

a. In the space below determine the value for dN/dt for year 2017 and 2018. Show your work.
dN
=rN
dt
r=1.5
For year 2017 N=47,
dN
=1.5 × 47=70.50
dt

For year 2018 N=47 + 70.50=117.50,

dN
=1.5 ×117.50=176.25
dt

b. Create two scatterplot figures (use the “Scatterplot with Smooth Lines and Markers” ).
Time should always be on the x-axis! Remember to label your axes! You may create these
figures in Excel or another graphing program.
a. Showing time vs. population size (N)
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

N vs. Time
500000
450000
400000
350000
300000
250000
N

200000
150000
100000
50000
0
2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028
Time (year)

b. Showing time vs. population growth rate (dN/dt)

dN/dt vs. Time

800000
700000
600000
500000
dN/dt

400000
300000
200000
100000
0
2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028
Time (year)

c. What do the graphs tell you about the exponential model? What is occurring in the population
to cause this kind of growth?
a. The model of exponential growth predicts the rate of population change over time.
From the graph it suggests that with a population that is growing geometrically, the rate
of population growth is continuously increasing as the population size increases.
The cause of this kind of exponential growth is population inhabiting favorable
environments where they have abundance resources available at low population
densities, such as during the process of colonization and establishment in new
environment.
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Part III. Logistic Model of Population Growth

3. Complete the following table using the logistic model of population growth. Use your deer
population estimate from part one for N in year 2017 (Part I). Assume that carrying capacity (K)
for the white-tailed deer population in Crawford County is 300 and intrinsic rate of increase =
1.5. The logistic model is:
dN (K−N )
dt
=rN( K )
Year N rN (K-N) / K dN/dt
2017 47 70.5 (300-47)/300=0.843 59.43
2018 106.43 159.65 0.645 102.97
2019 209.4 314.1 0.302 94.86
2020 304.26 456.39 -0.0142 -6.48
2021 297.78 446.67 0.0074 3.31
2022 301.09 451.64 -0.0036 -1.63
2023 299.46 449.19 0.0018 0.81
2024 300.27 450.41 -0.0009 -0.41
2025 299.86 449.79 0.0004 0.17
2026 300.03 450.05 -0.0001 -0.05
2027 299.98 449.97 0.00006 0.03

a. Show your calculations for determining dN/dt for 2017 and 2018:
dN ( K−N )
dt
=rN (
K )
r=1.5
K=300

For 2017 N=47,

dN (300−47)
dt
=1.5 × 47 ( 300 )
dN
=59.43
dt

For 2018 N=47+59.43=106.43,

dN (300−106.43)
dt
=1.5 ×106.43 ( 300 )
dN
=102.97
dt

b. Create two new figures. Time should always be on the x-axis! Remember to label your axes!
a. Time vs. population size (N)
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Population size vs. Time

350

300

250
Population size

200

150

100

50

0
2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028
Time

b. Time vs. population growth rate (dN/dt)

dN/dt vs. Time

120

100

80

60
dN/dt

40

20

0
2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028
-20
Time

c. Why would the growth rate (dN/dt) be negative?

a. More deers in that population died or went to a new population than that were born
because it went above the carrying capacity (300). Which means there are not enough
resources available for all the deers. Or we can say death exceeded than that of birth
(d>b).
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

d. Which growth model (exponential or logistic) is more realistic for the deer? Give examples of
density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors in your answer.
a. Logistic growth model is more realistic for deer and not exponential because if deer’s
population gets too big by exponential growth, all of the deer won’t have enough
resources available (carrying capacity K) for survival. When a population exceeds
carrying capacity of an area there will be deaths or migration to other population. In
exponential growth, the population would be dense in a given area; due to any kind of
environmental factors like disease break it could be detrimental for that population
leading to extinction. So, therefore logistic model is realistic.
Examples:
Density-dependent factors-: predation, diseases and parasites.
Density-independent factors: environmental factors such as adverse weather
conditions.

Part IV. Age-Specific Mortality

Open up the homework’s corresponding Powerpoint slides. FOLLOW THE EQUATIONS ON THESE
SLIDES. Your book is slightly different. You’ll be analyzing the life table of a common species in Kansas,
the northern cardinal.

4. For this species, what kind of population distribution spatial pattern would you anticipate in the
summer breeding season (clumped, random, uniform)? To give you a background for cardinals,
the male defends a territory around his female and nestlings. Justify your answers with a
description of the adaptive advantage of that distribution.
a. I would anticipate that it would be uniform population distribution spatial pattern.
Uniform distribution resulted as the male birds are trying to defend their female and
nestling among the population therefore, they won’t be clumped and random, they will
maintain some distance. The adaptive advantage of this distribution will be that it will
help prevent predators from entering their territory because they are uniformly spread
over an area. Secondly in uniform distribution they will defend an area for their own
exclusive use, meaning they will have more available resources.

5. Fill in the table below with your life table data.

X N(x) l(x) d(x) q(x) s(x)

0–1 80 80/80=1 (80-16)/80=0.8 0.8/1=0.8 1-0.8=0.2
1–2 16 16/80=0.2 (16-12)/80=0.05 0.05/0.2=0.25 1-0.25=0.75
2–3 12 0.15 0.03 0.2 0.8
3–4 9 0.11 0.05 0.45 0.55
4–5 5 0.06 0.05 0.83 0.17
5–6 1 0.01 0.01 1 0
6–7 0 - - - -
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

Remember:
X = Age interval (Years, days, etc. that the specimens were counted)
N(x) = Number of individuals alive at the start of the age interval
l(x) = Survivorship
Proportion of the original cohort (n0) alive at the start of the age interval (l(x) = n(x)/n 0)
d(x) =Age-specific mortality:
Proportion of the original cohort that died during the age interval (d(x) = (n(x) – n(x+1)) / n 0))
q(x) = Mortality rate (q(x) = d(x) / l(x))
s(x) = Survival rate (s(x) = 1 – q(x))

6. Show your work (all math) for the Year 2-3 age interval (3rd row).

l(x): For age 2-3

(l(x) = n(x)/n0)
l(x)= 12/80= 0.15

d(x): For age 2-3

(d(x) = (n(x) – n(x+1)) / n0))
d(x)= (12-9)/80= 0.03

q(x): For age 2-3

(q(x) = d(x) / l(x))
q(x)= 0.03/0.15= 0.2

s(x): For age 2-3

s(x)= 1-0.2= 0.8

7. Use Excel to make a line graph of the change in population size (Line graph with age interval on
the x-axis, N(x) on the y-axis). A complete graph will include axes with labels.
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

N(x) vs. Time

90
80
70
60
50
N(x)

40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (year)

a. What survivorship curve does this species follow (I, II, or III)? Why?
i. This type of species follows type III. As from the graph it can be seen that 80%
population dies in their age 0-1 and the rest lived till the age of 5. There is a
drastic mortality rate compared to survival rate during the initial year but as they
get adult the rate of mortality decreased and survived throughout their life.

8. Use Excel to make a line graph of the mortality curve for your key species (Line graph with age
interval on the x-axis, q(x) on the y-axis). A complete graph will include axes with labels.

q(x) vs. Time

1.2

0.8

0.6
q(x)

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time (year)

a. Describe what this curve tells you about the pattern of mortality for your species.
Explain 1 – 2 reasons as to why this species would experience such a pattern.
Principles of Ecology (BIOL 330)

i. The curve suggests that there a drastic mortality during the first year and then it
slowed down as the age increases. The reason could be the newborn birds might
not know how to fly which would make easy for predators to attack on that age
group compared to the mature adults. Secondly it would also be the
environmental factors such as adverse climates (extreme cold and hot), which 0-
1 year age group might not be resistant to it, influencing their survival during the
initial year.

9. Put in your own words what a l(x) = 0.6 would mean for a population of fish when the fish
cohort is 1 year old.
a. The value of l(x) is referred to as survivorship. l(x) of 0.6 means that 60% fish survived
during their 1st year of life. This could also mean it can be type II curve, where there is
50-50% survival chances.