Ecology 7th Edition by Manuel Molles

Exercise 1

While populations of gray and blue whales have grown rapidly, the North Atlantic right whale population remains dangerously small despite many decades of complete protection. Assuming that differences in population growth rates are determined by whale life histories and not by external factors such as pollution, what information would you need to explain the slower growth by the right whale populations (Hint: Female gray and blue whales give birth every 2 years, whereas right whales give birth only every 4 to 7 years.)