Lecture 5. Exponential and Logistic Growth

©Alexei Sharov

Self-reproduction is the main feature of all living organisms. This is what distinguishes them from non-living things. Any model of population dynamics include reproduction. We will discuss two most important models of population growth based on reproduction of organisms: exponential and logistic models.

Exponential and logistic models help to solve different kinds of problems in ecology, here are some examples:

1. How long will it take for a population to grow to a specific size?
2. What will be population size after n years (or generations)?
3. How long the population can survive at non-favorable conditions?

• 5.1 Exponential model
• 5.2. Logistic model
• 5.3. Discrete-time analogs of the exponential and logistic models
• 5.4. Questions and assignments

Logistic model (St. Olaf College, MN)