Question

A population of chipmunks migrated to an environment where they had little competition. Their population quickly increased but eventually stabilized as shown in the graph.

Which statement best explains why the population stabilized?

The population size became limited due to factors such as availability of food.

Interbreeding between members of the population increased the mutation rate.

An increase in the chipmunk population caused an increase in the producer population.

A predator species came to the area and occupied the same niche as the chipmunks.

Answer 1

The best explanation for why the population stabilized is that the population size became limited due to factors such as availability of food. As the population of chipmunks increased, the availability of resources became limited, and the competition for resources increased. This eventually led to a decrease in the growth rate of the population until it stabilized at a certain level that the environment could support. This is a common phenomenon in ecological systems, where the carrying capacity of an environment limits the population size of a species.

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