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7: Chaos and Randomness

  • Page ID
    25463
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    If the growth rate is too fast compared with that feedback, populations can overshoot their carrying capacity, which can lead to highly complex outcomes. Delays in sensing the carrying capacity can start oscillations. For example, a modeled insect population that grows and lays eggs one year and emerges the next year can suffer such oscillations. The insects are, in effect, “keeping their eyes shut” about how many insects will be produced the next year. This is in contrast to species like bacteria or humans, where the population grows more or less continuously.


    This page titled 7: Chaos and Randomness is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Clarence Lehman, Shelby Loberg, & Adam Clark (University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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