Ecology 6th Edition by Charles Krebs

Exercise 7

Singer et al. (1997) reported on the population dynamics of elk in Yellowstone National Park, with the following data from 1975-1991. Calf recruitment is the number of calves per adult female in autumn; survival rates are finite annual rates. Population estimates are for autumn of each year, and calf data are from the following summer and winter. There is a gap in the data between 1978 and 1982.
Are any of these three measures of recruitment or mortality density dependent? What can you conclude about population regulation in Yellowstone elk? Compare your conclusions with those of Singer et al. (1997).