Question

the population of northern cardinals in the owen conservation park on the west side of madison has a per capita population growth rate, r, of 0.07. the population of northern cardinals in tenney park on the east side of madison has a per capita population growth rate, r, of 0.10. if the populations are both growing exponentially and both are censused next year, in which of the populations will dn/dt be greatest?

Answer 1

Given the same initial population size, the population in Tenney Park, with a per capita growth rate of 0.10, will experience faster exponential growth and thus have a greater dn/dt than Owen Conservation Park, which has a rate of 0.07.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is asking which population of northern cardinals, given their respective per capita population growth rates, will have the greatest rate of change in population size (dn/dt) when measured next year. The rates given for the two populations are 0.07 for the owen conservation park and 0.10 for tenney park.



Since population growth is given by the formula Population growth = rN, where r is the per capita population growth rate and N is the number of individuals, the Population with a higher 'r' will have a greater dn/dt if the population sizes (N) are the same. The park with the higher per capita rate (r) will experience faster exponential growth, hence Tenney Park, with an r value of 0.10, will have a greater dn/dt next year compared to Owen Conservation Park with an r of 0.07, assuming equal initial populations.