April 4, 2012

Sparrow Population

The formula i created shows the sparrow population fluctuating constantly; it increases and then decreases, then increases and decreases. This is because at certain points the birth/immigration rate is greater than the death/emigration rat, and vice versa. And as the years progress it continues to cycle, until it finally comes to a stop at the 99th year, and the population levels off and remains the same. The population equilibrium could be a result of many factors; the most reasonable factor could be that the birth/immigration rate became equal with the death/emigration rate. This would be an extremely ideal circumstance because this means that a decent amount of birds (2,632) could be sustained in this environment without running out of resources or exceeding the carrying capacity.

The way we progressed during the course of this activity from simpler to increasingly complex models really made it easy to understand how to work spreadsheets very efficiently. It was a good learning process. Spreadsheets are also a good way to do business from a science standpoint because spreadsheets perform any type of calculation you type in, and everything stays organized and clear, and it processes the information quickly. It is also very easy to go back and make any corrections to your mistakes.

1 comment:

K. said...

Why do you think your population is shifting so much?