A Laboratory Experiment Followed the Growth of a Flour Beetle

A laboratory experiment followed the growth of a flour beetle (Tribolium sp.) population over time. At first the population increased dramatically, but later the growth slowed and the population size leveled off. Although food (the wheat flour in which they live) was still abundant, the flour beetles resorted to eating their own eggs when population densities got high. What can we conclude about cannibalism in this species?

A) It has no effect on the growth of the population, as food scarcity is clearly the limiting factor.
B) It is clearly maladaptive, as populations always do best when their densities increase as much as possible.
C) It is a density-dependent means of population control.
D) It is a density-independent means of population control.
E) We cannot reach any conclusions based on the information provided.