Question 5: A population of Paramoecium caudatum was grown in a culture medium. After 5 days the culture medium became overcrowed with Paramoeium and had depleted nutrients. What will happen to the population and what type of growth curve will the population attain? Draw the growth curve.
Answer:
Firstly, after the lag phase, the population will grow in an exponential manner where the nutrients and space will be abundant.
When the food sources get depleted, the population density starts decreasing and ends in an asymptote phase, then the population density reaches the carrying capacity (K). Population shows logistic growth curve and S- shaped growth curve. The S- shaped curve is also known as Verhulst- Pearl Logistic curve, which is represented by the following equation:
Where, N is the population size
r is the intrinsic rate of increase;
- If r is positive then the population is increasing
- If r is positive then the population is decreasing
- If r is zero then the population does not change in size
dN/dt is the rate of change in population numbers over the time
K is the carrying capacity.
Diagram of S- shaped growth curve:
Add Comment