According to the graph, in the 1980s, the size of the mammal population remained close to its carrying capacity, as shown in the last answer option.
What is carrying capacity?
- It is a determinant of the capacity of an ecosystem.
- It is the ability of an ecosystem to shelter a population without exterminating its natural resources.
The graph shows how the mammal population maintained itself over some time in an ecosystem that had resources to promote life. The size of the population changed over time, but according to the graph, in the 1980s the population remained at a size that reached the carrying capacity of the ecosystem.
Full question:
The graph below shows the changes in the population size of a mammal species introduced onto an isolated island in 1957.
Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the data?
Every year, more individuals were born than died.
A predator of this mammal was removed from the island in 1990.
The population decreases were the result of low immigration rates.
In the 1980s, the mammal’s population size stayed around its carrying capacity.
The graph is attached.