Does Crowding Change the Rule?

You'll learnto tell density-dependent from density-independent factors, and see K is not fixed.

A population growing in a fresh habitat levels off near a ceiling — the carrying capacity, K. Some limiting factors bite harder as the population packs in; others hit the same fraction no matter how many individuals are there. Telling the two apart, and seeing that K itself moves, is the whole topic. Eleven short steps; press Next for each one.

11 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · DENSITY-DEPENDENT vs INDEPENDENT · K IS NOT FIXED · v6

density-dependent vs independent · and a ceiling that moves

Before you start

What you're looking at

A population growth curve climbing toward a dashed ceiling, K, beside boxes of organisms filling their habitat.

The question

Which limiting factors bite harder as the habitat crowds — and is the ceiling K a fixed number?

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