A scientist places 8 pairs of beetles in a glass box with 16 grams of flour and a constant source of water. The scientist adds another 16 grams of flour every 17

days. The graph shows the growth of the beetle population over 175 days

Population of Beetle

25

50

75 100 125 150 175

Time (days)

Based on the data, what is the likely carrying capacity of the beetle population?

200

As the graph is not provided, lets answer this question generally.

Explanation:

Carrying capacity can be described as the maximum number of organisms of a species that a particular habitat can support. Beyond the carrying capacity, the resources will start to deplete and competition will begin for these resources among the organisms. As a result, the population will start to decline due to lesser number of resources available.

In the above experiment, although the scientist is adding flour for the beetles every 17 days but as the population increases, the flour will not be enough for all the beetles.