Final answer:
The answer is true; populations exhibit exponential growth in favorable environments at low densities, characterized by increasing growth rates as population size expands. However, this type of growth cannot be sustained indefinitely due to resource limitations, leading to logistic growth models.
Step-by-step explanation:
Exponential growth is indeed characteristic of populations that inhabit favorable environments at low densities, so the answer to the student's question is true. When conditions are ideal, without resource limitations, populations can experience exponential growth, meaning that as the population gets larger, the growth rate increases. An example of this is a population of bacteria growing in a nutritionally enriched medium in a laboratory setting. These conditions allow for the population size to double at regular intervals, leading to a J-shaped growth curve reflecting the accelerating population size over time.
Charles Darwin recognized that in the real world, unlimited natural resources do not exist and thus exponential growth cannot be sustained indefinitely. This understanding led to the concept of logistic growth, which takes into account limited resources and carrying capacity.