Final answer:
A seal plate with yeast would show a population of yeast with a logistic S-shaped growth curve under ideal conditions, while a natural seal population would show unpredictable fluctuations due to environmental pressures such as limited resources and migration.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a seal plate were plated with yeast and left to grow, one would likely find a population of yeast exhibiting a logistic growth curve, specifically an S-shaped curve, under ideal laboratory conditions. This logistic growth indicates that the yeast population expands rapidly at first, but then its growth rate slows as the population approaches the carrying capacity of the environment, which is the maximum population size that the environment can sustain.
In contrast, a real-world seal population would show fluctuations in growth that are far less predictable than the controlled growth of yeast in a lab. This is because seals in the natural environment face a variety of challenges, including limited resources, migration patterns, and changing weather conditions. The pressures on seal populations would be intensified if their major food sources were to decline, for instance due to pollution or overfishing, which would likely lead to a reduction in their population.