“Oh Deer” Population Study

Topic Question: What is the carrying capacity of deer in our “simulated” ecosystem?

Hypothesis: If we simulate deer in an ecosystem, then the population’s carrying capacity would be __________ deer.

Copy onto paper Research Carrying capacity is the largest population an environment can support during any given time. Limiting factors such as food, shelter, or water are resources that can limit the size of a population.

Experiment: Chart & Graph Year Number of Deer 1   2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Deer Population in a Simulated Ecosystem Number of Deer Year

Conclusion: Summarize the activity and what the game demonstrated. Answer the following in the form of a paragraph! Use complete sentences. Conclusion: Summarize the activity and what the game demonstrated. In this activity, we… Was your hypothesis correct? My hypothesis was ____________, the carrying capacity of the deer population was _________ deer. How did the population of deer change from one year to the next? (give specific examples with numerical data)

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence. Analysis: 1. Were there any limiting factors? If so, what were they, and how was the population affected by them? 2. What might happen to the population of deer if rabbits were introduced into the environment. 3. Ecologists have found that no organism can experience indefinite exponential growth, yet Homo Sapiens have experienced exponential growth for hundreds of years. How have humans modified the limiting factors of our population?