NAME: ___________________________________DATE: ________BLOCK: ___
Imagine that you are monitoring an alien’s population growth for a science fair project.
After doing some research you find that the alien reproduces asexually and doubles its
population size every two days under ideal conditions.
Predict what the population size of these aliens could be under ideal circumstances.
Using the reproductive rate given above, determine the population size over 2 weeks (14
days).
1. Calculate the population size every two days and fill in the blanks in Table 1. Note
that the population size begins with just one organism.
2. Graph these data on the back of this page.
3. Answer the questions on the back after you have made the graph!
TABLE 1
Day
Number of aliens
0
1
2
2
4
4
6
8
8
16
10
32
12
64
14
128
1. What is the population size on day #14?
2. Predict what you think the population size would be on day #28. How did you
calculate your prediction?
3. Do you think that this population could grow at this rate indefinitely? Why or why
not?
4. Predict what the graph of this population would look like if the population size
tripled every two days?
5. List some factors that could slow a population’s growth rate.
6. List some factors that could speed up a population’s growth rate.