Hallee Booth

Population Growth

1. How many seeds were in your initial pepper? This represents the first generation.
The amount of seed that were in my initial bell pepper were 18, so those 18 were
the first generation.
2. How many plants were alive in your pepper population after only 5 generations?
After 5 generations of bell pepper plants there were 1,889,568 bell pepper plants in
the population.

Figure 1: An exponential graph of a bell pepper population over 5 generations.

3. Describe your graph.
My graph shows the exponential growth of a bell pepper population that started
with 18 seedlings and grew over 5 generations. The graph shows the population
assuming there was no morality and each plant produced 18 seedlings per
generation. My graph shows that with no morality after 5 generations there is
almost 2 million bell pepper plants.
The Y-axis shows the number of plants that grew over the generations. The X-axis
shows the number of generations, in years, of the bell pepper plants. The graph is
continual growth because there was no morality and each plant produced 18 seeds.
4. Make a list of five environmental factors that might limit natural or wild
populations (not necessarily pepper plant or human populations).
1. Diseases
2. Human impact
3. Lack of resources

4. Carrying capacity
5. Natural disasters
5. If a population were subjected to some of these environmental factors for a
considerable length of time, would you expect to see any changes in the
population? Based on the information provided above, explain your answer. BE
SPECIFIC which factors would cause which changes?
If a population was subjected to these environmental factors for a considerable
length of time there would definitely be changes in the population. With diseases
over time, it could wipe out the population that it has affected or maybe the
population may evolve and develop a resistance to the disease. Human impact can
also result in changes because humans create pollution which can harm plants and
animals, humans cut down forests to use for other resources, and build permanent
residents in the middle of a balanced ecosystem that will harm the other organisms
in the area. Lack of resources would make it hard for the population to continue to
grow because there would not be enough resources for the whole population and
they may eventually run out of the resources. Carrying capacity would make it so
the population would even out after a period of time because that would be the
maximum amount of the population that the environment would be able to carry
and sustain. Natural disasters can severely affect a population especially if its going
on for a considerable length of time. Natural disasters can really destroy a
population and how it survives, for example, if tornadoes are going through fields all
the time it makes it difficult for that population of plants to grow and produce
seedlings.