Deer Population Activity Each year, some deer have offspring and other deer will die. You can use this equation to determine the size of population each year: y= ((p + b)-d) y= the total population size plus the birth rate and minus the death rate. p= population size at beginning of the year b= the birth rate d= the death rate
The birth rate and death rate will be given for each year. You will find the population size for each year using the equation and given information. When graphing the information, x = the year and y= population size to give you the ( x, y ) coordinates. The population size for the next year will be the y of the previous year.
YearPop size 1stOffspringDeathsy= ((p + b) –d)Population size end y= (( ) – 300) y= (( ) – 50) y= (( ) – 150) y= (( ) – 100) y= (( ) – 100) y= (( ) – 200) y= (( ) – 250) y= (( ) – 300) y= (( ) – 250) y= (( ) – 250) y= (( ) – 450) y= (( ) – 100) y= (( ) – 150) y= (( ) – 300) y= (( ) – 100)2600
When forming your graph, the year, or x value goes across the bottom, which is the x-axis. The deer population size goes up the side of the graph, or the y-axis. Number the x-axis starting with the earliest year to the latest year. The example on the previous slide goes from 1985 to 2005 because I was not able to reformat the graph. The y-axis should be numbered evenly to the highest number needed for the graph. The example on the previous slide is numbered from 0 to 3000.
The graph shows that the population size steadily rose from 1986 to There was a large decline in population size between 1995 and Discuss other trends you see in the graph.
Assessment Questions: What could cause the population decline that occurred between 1995 and 1996? Based on what you have learned about carrying capacity, what is the carrying capacity of this deer habitat? Predict what will happen to the population size in What circumstances might result in a high birth rate for a population? A low birth rate? What circumstances might result a high death rate for a population? A low death rate?