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The Rate of Recovery of Decimated Populations of Brown Rats in Nature
Author(s) -
Emlen John T.,
Stokes Allen W.,
Winsor Charles P.
Publication year - 1948
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1932809
Subject(s) - citation , library science , sociology , computer science
The nature of population growth from a single pair of individuals to "population maturity" has been studied with various lower animals in stable laboratory environments. Very little is known, however, concerning the growth of populations in natural environments. The breeding season gain of seasonal breeders has been measured in a number of wild species by comparing spring and fall densities. This gain, however, represents the rising phase of a normal annual cycle in a mature population rather than the growth or recovery of an undeveloped or suppressed population. Information is also available on the rate of increase of cyclic species, such as the snow-shoe rabbit, during the recovery phase of a ten-year cycle. This may possibly represent uncomplicated growth of a suppressed population; but at present we are unable to state whether it is growth toward a fixed asymptote. or a changing response to a cyclically shifting asymptote. Unpredictable and unmeas-