Population growth of a single species:

Exponential and logistic population growth

We are going to begin our exploration of Computational Ecology with two mathematical models of population growth of single species: the exponential and logistic models. This lesson has 3 main parts:

1. Exploration the behavior of populations growing exponentially the logistically

'Exponential model' and 'Logistic model'

2. Description of a current environmental problem and exponential growth in action - the 'Jellyification' of marine ecosystems

'Jelly-pocalypse'

3. Populations growing logarithmically - what is carrying capacity?

'Logistic algal growth'

This lab exercise was coded using Shiny, a free web application framework for R, and RStudio. Check out http://shiny.rstudio.com/ for more info on this awesome program!

Let's get started! Click on 'Exponential Model' above to begin

Parameter values

r

Starting pop size

Parameter values

r

K

Starting pop size

N_0

Fitting r and K
Effect of changing K

Population growth of a single species:

Exponential and logistic population growth

We are going to begin our exploration of Computational Ecology with two mathematical models of population growth of single species: the exponential and logistic models. This lesson has 3 main parts:

1. Exploration the behavior of populations growing exponentially the logistically

'Exponential model' and 'Logistic model'

2. Description of a current environmental problem and exponential growth in action - the 'Jellyification' of marine ecosystems

'Jelly-pocalypse'

3. Populations growing logarithmically - what is carrying capacity?

'Logistic algal growth'

This lab exercise was coded using Shiny, a free web application framework for R, and RStudio. Check out http://shiny.rstudio.com/ for more info on this awesome program!

Let's get started! Click on 'Exponential Model' above to begin

Parameter values

r

Starting pop size

Parameter values

r

K

Starting pop size

N_0

Jellyification

Jellyfish growth is increasing exponentially all over the world. Increased seawater temperatures due to a changing climate might be speeding up jellyfish growth. What value of r gives the best fit to these jellyfish data?

Parameter value

r

Once you've found a good r value that fits the data, click on the 'Extrapolation' tab. Based on the growth of the jellyfish so far, what will the population density be on day 150?

We'll go back to the jellyfish later, but now let's look at a population that grows logistically.

Part I: Parameter values

r

K

Part II: Changing K value