Overview

Although population growth models do not necessarily adequately describes natural populations, they can be very useful for conservation biologists and wildlife managers in order to help them make decisions such as how large a nature reserve should be to sustain the population of a given species.

In this topic, you will see how the logistic model can be applied to the African bush elephant population in Kruger National Park (KNP), a natural reserve of South Africa.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn the biological and sociopolitical history of the African bush elephant population in KNP.
  • Calculate growth rate (ΔN/Δt), population size (N), and “unused portion of carrying capacity (K)” over time.
  • Evaluate how well the African bush elephant population in KNP fits the logistic model.
  • Explain how assumptions of the logistic growth model affect the shape of the growth curve of the African bush elephant population in KNP

Your task is to use the logistic model to follow the growth of the African bush elephant population in KNP.

  You should go through this topic in a linear fashion and follow the prompts that are given to you. However, each section is accessible by coming back to this introductory page and clicking on the appropriate tile below.