Final answer:
Populations that double in size regularly exhibit exponential growth initially, but switch to logistic growth as resources become limited, leading to a stabilized population at the carrying capacity.
Step-by-step explanation:
When populations double in size at regular intervals until they outstrip their food supply, we're describing a situation that starts with exponential growth. In exponential growth, a population increases rapidly over time, as resources are assumed to be unlimited, creating a J-shaped curve. This initial phase is characterized by the fact that the growth rate becomes faster as the population size increases. After a certain point, when the resources start to become scarce, such as food supply running low, the growth pattern changes to what is called logistic growth.
In logistic growth, the population growth starts to slow down as it approaches the environment's carrying capacity, leading to an S-shaped curve. This indicates that the population cannot grow indefinitely, as environmental resources become limiting factors that prevent further growth. At the carrying capacity, the population size levels off and stabilizes, as the growth rate slows down to zero. An example of exponential growth is bacteria growing in an enriched medium in a lab, where initially, there are ample nutrients and space to proliferate.