Population Growth
Dial up starting population, growth rate, carrying capacity, and a harvesting/predation rate and watch a population trace the classic S-shaped curve toward its habitat's limit — or, if harvesting outpaces growth, decline toward extinction. Traced against an uncapped exponential comparison.
What you can adjust
- Starting population
- 2 – 200
- Growth rate
- 0.1 – 2 /year
- Carrying capacity
- 100 – 2000
- Harvesting / predation rate
- 0 – 2 /year
How many individuals the population starts with. Try setting this above the carrying capacity to see a population fall back down instead of rise.
How fast the population would grow with unlimited resources and no harvesting — a higher rate means more offspring per individual per year.
The largest population the habitat's food, space, and other resources can support long-term. Growth slows as the population approaches this limit.
The fraction of the population removed every year by hunting, fishing, or a predator. At 0 the population follows the plain S-curve; once this reaches the growth rate, removals outpace births and the population is driven to extinction.