Ecology Interview Question:

What is the typical shape of a population growth curve? How the biotic potential can be represented in the same graphic?

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A typical population growth curve (number of individuals x time, linear scale) has sigmoidal shape. There is a short and slow initial growth followed by a fast and longer growth and again a decrease in growth preceding the stabilization or equilibrium stage.

The population growth according to the biotic potential curve however is not sigmoidal, it is only crescent and points up to the infinite of the scale (there is not a decreasing stage in any equilibrium).

Population Ecology - Image Diversity: population growth curve
Submitted by: Administrator