FIFTEEN

Flashcards covering the concepts, definitions, formulas, and examples of geometric population growth versus exponential growth from the lecture.

Geometric growth

A population growth pattern where a population increases by a constant proportion from one time unit to the next, occurring in populations with discrete bouts of reproduction and distinct generations.

Exponential growth

A population growth pattern applicable to populations that continuously increase in size with continuously overlapping reproduction, resulting in generations that are not distinct.

Discrete bouts of reproduction

Reproductive events in which populations reproduce only at specific time periods followed by intervals of no offspring production, yielding distinct generations.

$\lambda$ (Lambda)

The geometric growth rate or per capita rate of increase for populations that do not have overlapping generations, representing the constant ratio by which generations differ in size.

Lambda calculation formula

The mathematical method to find $\lambda$, calculated by dividing the population size at one time period, $N_{t+1}$, by the population size at the preceding time period, $N_t$.

$$N_0$$

The initial count or starting number of individuals present in a population.

$$N_t$$

The population size at a specific unit of time or after a certain number of years in the future.

Phlox

A flower population cited as an example of organisms reproducing on a regular and well-defined basis, whose successive generations differ in size by a constant ratio.

Voles

An example organism that reproduces geometrically once per year, used to demonstrate future population calculations given an initial population of $33$ and a $\lambda$ of $24$.