Fun With Graphs- Exponential Growth

How do I know which graph to draw?

1) In the population ecology portion of this course we will be discussing two models of population growth- exponential growth and logistic growth. Thus, you need to know which growth model you are describing before you know which graph to draw.

2) You can't draw a graph until you know what the axes are.

Hopefully, this is a review, but it is probably worth talking about. The x-axis (the horizontal axis) is known as the independent variable. The y-axis (the vertical axis) is the dependent variable. Changing the value of the independent variable results in a change in the dependent variable. Id DOES matter which variable goes on which axis so try to get it right.

In population ecology there will be two main independent variables that we are interested in studying. Because we are interested in patterns of population growth, we will often want to observe how variables change over time. Time is always the independent variable, so it always goes on the x-axis. Sometimes we are interested in how parameters depend on population size. In this case, population size is always the independent variable.

Powerpoint Presentation

This powerpoint presentation "Fun With Graphs: Exponential Growth) reviews the graphs you are expected to be able to draw, understand, and interpret.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/mavlOD8flFs67G