 Recall
that a population is
all the individuals of a
species that are living in an
area at one time.
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Every population has the potential to increase
in size.
Some populations have the potential for slow,
steady growth; others have the potential to
increase rapidly.
If you have the proper information at hand,
you can calculate the potential for population
growth for any organism.
The theoretical unlimited growth of a
population over time is its reproductive
potential.
What information would
you need in order to
predict the size of the
population in the future?
Milkweed Bug
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Look at Milkweed-Bug Reproductive Potential
Data Sheet
Entomologist have discovered some general
information about the lives of milkweed bugs
living in the wild.
That information is written on your sheet in the
question and answer chart.
Based on the information at hand, you should
be able to figure out how many bugs will be in
the population after a month, 2 months, or a
year, if nothing limits population growth.
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Complete worksheet. – Keep the following
thoughts in mind:
You start with one male and one female.
Only the females reproduce.
Half of the offspring are females and half are
males.
The offspring from the previous generation are
the parents in the next generation.
Milkweed bugs live 4 months.
Population reduction is the number of parents
in the previous generation.
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Without any limitation on population growth,
every egg produces a new individual in the
population, and every individual lives out its
natural life, 4 months.
A pair of milkweed bugs has the potential to
produce a population of almost 32 billion bugs
in one year.
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This number of milkweed bugs would circle
Earth eight times if they stood in a line, nose to
tail.
They would cover eight football fields if they
all crowded together, but didn’t crawl on top of
one another.
Have a mass equal to about 30,000 typical
middle school students.
Fill about 12 typical middle school classrooms
floor to ceiling.