Question

An artificial pond at a college campus was populated with several pairs of pond slider turtles. after many years of slow population growth, campus administrators installed a coin-operated food dispenser at the pond's edge. students and community members bought and fed the turtles an enormous amount of food each day. within 5 years the population of turtles in the pond was increasing exponentially. how did the installation of the food dispenser affect the carrying capacity of the turtle populations at this pond?

Answer 1

Obviously, the installation of the food dispenser increased the carrying capacity of the turtle populations at the pond by an enormous amount. The food dispensers represent an external source of nutrients into the pond, which by its nature was consistent and large. Without this external input of nutrients, it is unlikely that the pond would be able to sustain such a large population of turtles.