When resources become limiting, populations follow a logistic growth curve in which the size will level off at a point called what?
containing capacity
believed capacity
full capacity
carrying capacity
19.2 Population Growth and Regulation Populations with unlimited resources grow exponentially—with an accelerating growth rate. When resources become limiting, populations follow a logistic growth curve in which population size will level off at the carrying capacity. Populations are regulated by a variety of density-dependent and density-independent factors. Life-history characteristics, such as age at first reproduction or numbers of offspring, are characteristics that evolve in populations just as anatomy or behavior can evolve over time. The model of r- and K-selection suggests that characters, and possibly suites of characters, may evolve adaptations to population stability near the carrying capacity (K-selection) or rapid population growth and collapse (r-selection). Species will exhibit adaptations somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes.