Question

.5. Lately you have taken to growing Sea Monkeys in a large aquarium. The aquarium can support 20 000 Sea Monkeys. You start with a batch of 50 Sea Monkeys, and two weeks later, you can see 150 Sea Monkeys.® a. Describe the phases that this population would undergo as it approaches its carrying capacity. Describe the final phase of logistic growth, after the carrying capacity is reached. 15) .b. Calculate how long it would take for this population to reach its inflection point (3)

Answer 1

A)

The three phases of a logistic growth curve or a population growing in a habitat with limited resources show:

• Initial Lag phase
• Followed by a phase of acceleration and deceleration
• and finally a asymptote.

An asymptote is seen when the population density reaches the carrying capacity beyond which no further growth is possible as the habitat is exhausted of its resources to sustain anymore growth in the population. This type of population growth is called Verhulst-Pearl Logistic growth.

B)

Initial number of monkeys= 50

Number of monkeys after 2 weeks = 150

Therefore growth rate of monkeys= (150-50)/ 2 = 50 monkeys per week.

Given carrying capacity= 20,000 monkeys

So number of weeks(time) to reach carrying capacity or inflection point =(20,000-50)/50 = 399 weeks.