Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. draw a graph to illustrate its effect on the growth of a population over time. Label the areas appropriately: environmental resistance, carrying capacity.

2. recognize a J-shaped and S-shaped population growth curve and explain how and why they are different.
   

3. explain the concept of exponential growth and draw a graph to illustrate its effect on the growth of a population over time.

4. describe the changes in population growth rate that would occur with changes in the factors listed below:
   
   • birth rate
     
   • death rate
     
   • fertility per female
     

5. define the terms below, give examples of each and describe their effect on the growth of a population:
   
   • carrying capacity
     
   • density-dependent factors
     
   • density-independent factors