The deer population activity allows students to experiment with the factors which influence population dynamics. In their exploration, they encounter both exponential and logistic growth curves. Students should be familiar with the concepts of birth and death rates, emigration and immigration, predation, limiting factors such as food supply and habitat size, and carrying capacity. The activity is self-paced with extensions provided for those who have extra time.

TEACHER RESOURCES Teacher Materials Student Activity Student Assessment Learning Goals/Standards COMPUTER MODEL PC Format Mac Format STELLATM software Web-based Simulation AUTHORS Don Shaffer   North East High School   North East, Maryland Kevin Wallace   Allegany High School   Cumberland, Maryland

THE MODEL DIAGRAM THE EQUATIONS Deer_Population(t) = Deer_Population(t - dt) + (Births - Deaths) * dt INIT Deer_Population = 10 Births = Birth_rate*Deer_Population Deaths = Deer_Population*Death_Rate Birth_rate = .25 Deer_Density = Deer_Population/Square_Miles Square_Miles = 100 Death_Rate = GRAPH(Deer_Density) (0.00, 0.00), (1.00, 0.09), (2.00, 0.25), (3.00, 0.43), (4.00, 0.6), (5.00, 0.76), (6.00, 0.825), (7.00, 0.86), (8.00, 0.88), (9.00, 0.9), (10.0, 0.9)

THE OUTPUT

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