Fundamental Aspects of Ecology - Case Study Example

Calculate the average relative rate of population change, [N(t+1) – N(t)]/N(t), and its standard deviation from the population data for the southern resident population of the killer whale, British Columbia, Canada.

Estimate the average time until extinction for a population of killer whales. Assume that the average growth rate (r) for the killer whale population is zero.
If this was always the case, we should be worried about the small population since their extinction rate is high. The small population takes a few years to become extinct than the large population.

Conditions that can lead to the population not increasing when reduced in size include;
Few reproducing females ÷ if a population contains few reproducing females, the growth rate will be low, and eventually, the people will be approaching extinction.
Few fertile males ÷if a population has only a few fertile males, the growth rate will be low since only a few females will be fertilized. This will lead to few births than deaths. Hence the population will approach extinct values.