Population Growth Curves
Example population growth curves.Copyright 2012 Jeff Farrell, Michigan State University
Using Avida-ED freeware, students control a few factors in an environment populated with digital organisms, and then compare how changing these factors affects population growth. They experiment by altering the environment size (similar to what is called carrying capacity, the maximum population size that an environment can normally sustain), the initial organism gestation rate, and the availability of resources. How systems function often depends on many different factors. By altering these factors one at a time, and observing the results, students are able to clearly see the effect of each one.
This activity is a simple form of systems analysis, an important part of engineering. The activity takes a biological system and describes it as a mathematical process with manipulatable variables. How systems, living or not, function often depends on many different factors. By altering these factors one at a time, and observing the results, the effects of each one can be determined. Many engineering disciplines require mathamatical translationas well as an understanding of population growth, including healthcare concerns, urban planning and biochemical engineering.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Predict the effects of changing environmental factors on the patterns of population growth.
- Apply mathematical routines to quantities that describe communities composed of populations of organisms that interact in complex ways.