Imagine that you are managing a large ranch. You know from historical accounts that wild sheep used to live there, but they have been extirpated. You decide to reintroduce them. After doing some research to determine what might be an appropriately sized founding population, you do so. You then watch the population increase for several generations, and graph the number of individuals (vertical axis)against the number of generations (horizontal axis). The graph will appear as

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The graph of a reintroduced population typically starts with a steep upward slope as the population grows rapidly from the small founding population. After reaching a peak, the growth rate slows down, resulting in a J-shaped curve. This is because the available resources are finite, and the population eventually reaches a point where there are not enough resources to support further growth.

Imagine That You Are Managing a Large Ranch