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Population worksheet

Population worksheet

Review biodiversity:

A certain pond has six species of fish:

  • 30 type a
  • 20 type b
  • 10 type c
  • 15 type d
  • 40 type e 
  • 50 type f

  1. what is the total number of fish in this pond?
  2. what is the predominant species?
  3. if the r for type c, is higher than the others, what would imagine would eventually happen?
  4. what is shannon’s index for this pond?

Exponential growth: (see module 16 for examples)

A small island has 1200 rabbits that exhibit J selected growth with a 14% growth rate

  1. what is the initial growth rate for the rabbits? (∆N/∆t or rabbits per year)
  2. what will be the population of the island after one year?
  3. what will be the population of the island after 5 years?

Carrying capacity:

If the same island above starts with 1200 rabbits, and a carrying capacity of 2000: 

  1. what does the slope of the growth rate indicate?
  2. what is the slope of the growth rate when the population is 1500?
  3. what is the slope when the population is 2000 rabbits?
  4. what is the slope when the population is 2400 rabbits?
  5. what is this called?
  6. make a graph of this scenario

Predator prey relationships

  1. why does the population of hares in the weblog example peak before the lynx population does?
  2. why is there a delay between the peak of the hares and the peak of the lynxes?

Use the simulation below to be creative: invent models of carrying capacity, competition and predator prey curves

You can use these to check your work...

Numbers 09:

Unmigrated media:Download Population Growth Model 09.numbers (text/html, 221.2 KB)

Unmigrated media:Download Population Growth Model.xls (text/html, 61.5 KB)

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ca82b400-0a69-0a69-8673-d6dfe24b6444

Human Populations:

  1. what is the doubling time for a country called Doffania with a population of 1.2 million if the growth rate is 7%?
  2. how long will it take to make the population 9.6 million?
  3. later restrictions on family size  bring the rate down to 3.5%, what is the new doubling time?
  4. what other social changes could have brought down the growth rate?
  5. If the CBR in a country is 11, and the CDR is 9, ignoring immigration and emigration, what is the population growth rate?
  6. what is the doubling time?
  7. repeat with a second country with a CBR of 9, and a CDR of 13, what is the growth rate?
  8. what is the doubling time? explain
  9. A third country has a CBR of 11, a CDR of 9, immigration rate of 2, emigration rate of 1, what is the growth rate?
  10. what is the doubling time?
  11. how would an increase or decrease in life expectancy change this?

Replacement ratio:

  1. in South Korea, what is the consequence of having a replacement ratio of 0.8?
  2. What is causing this?
  3. Look up other countries with a replacement ratio of less than 2.1 and explain how this could be alleviated in each case (political, religious, economic, racial, etc.)
  4. Why did China institute a one-child policy in 1978?
  5. What happened to the population growth curve?
  6. Why is this a problem now?
  7. New Zealand (4.3 million people) has a stable 2.1 replacement ratio. If the immigration rate is 2 per 1000, how many people per year immigrate to NZ?
  8. what is the growth rate in NZ?
  9. what is their doubling time?
  10. why is female education a solution to overpopulation?
  11. if a country has a perfectly parallel population pyramid, is the population stable? why or why not?
  12. Ask two of your friends how many siblings they have, and how many mothers in each generation to calculate the replacement ratio in each case.
Population pyramids:
Go to populationpyramid.net to answer the following:
  1. what is the approximate carrying capacity of the world as of 2023?
  2. how would you describe the world pyramid in 2023?
  3. compare this with the world pyramid in 1958, (use the -5 key) what do you see?
  4. what is the bulge in population for 5-10 year olds in 1958?
  5. when were these children born?
  6. if a male went to war in 1940 at the age of 20, where does he show up on the 1958 US curve?
  7. compare male to female for that age then-explain
  8. do the same for Germany in 1958
  9. zoom forward to 1978 when some of your parents were born, why is there a bulge in both genders in 15-19 year olds?
  10. If you were a 42 year old American in 2000, when were you born? How old are your kids? Find the "boom echo".
  11. Find the impact of the Iran/Iraq war of 1980-89, which side had the biggest impact? If you were a 35 year old Iraqi man in 1995, how old were you during this war?
  12. If you are a 30 year old German man in 1950, when were you born? How old were you in WWII (1936-1945)? 
  13. If you were a 35 year old woman in Japan in 1960, why are there so few men to choose from?
  14. Look at the UK in 1960. Where are the casualties of WWII, and are they both male and female? Explain.
  15. What the heck is going on in UAE?
  16. Look at Russia in 1960. What gaps do you see? Why?
  17. Information about China is very spotty-why would this be? See if you can find the impact of the one-child policy from 1979-2021.
  18. Compare present day Japan to Africa. What issues will they need to address?
  19. Look at present day Italy, Japan and Germany. What is common?
  20. Compare present day India and China. What do you see?

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