Question

A population of wolves in Wyoming experienced a rapid decline. Scientists found that 20 wolves died from rabies, 15 wolves died from mange (a parasitic mite), and 10 wolves died from natural causes. Wyoming experienced a recent drought, and many populations, including deer, bison, and bear, have diminished in the past year. What is best described in this explanation?

Wolves reached their greatest population growth.
Wolves were exposed to too many limiting factors.
Wolves were unaffected by other populations in Wyoming.
Wolves’ breeding season was affected by the drought.

Answer 1

Wolves died from rabies, mange, and natural causes - these are called limiting factors. Because the lack of water, and the limiting factors mentioned above, wolves were exposed to too many limiting factors.

Answer 2

The correct answer would be "Wolves were exposed to too many limiting factors".

Limiting factor can be explained as the factors as well as the environmental conditions which limit the abundance, growth, and/or distribution of the organisms or populations in an ecosystem.

Environmental or abiotic limiting factors include the availability of food, water, shelter, precipitation, and temperature.

Biotic limiting factors may include biological interactions such as parasitism, predation, competition, diseases et cetera.

All the factors such as rabies, mange, drought et cetera limit the population growth of the wolves and thus, they can be considered as the limiting factors.