You said that if resources were limited,
(a)b would increase with increasing N and be density-dependent
no -- put yourself in this position and think about whether it would be easier to have kids when there were, say, just 100 of you competing for the resources or when there were 500. Your birth rate would be lower if N were bigger.
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You said that if resources were limited,
(c) b would first increase, then decrease with increasing N and be density-independent.
Well, maybe b would have this complex relationship with density, but then it would be density-dependent, not density-independent. A density-independent birth rate is one whose value is the same no matter how many individuals are in the popualtion.
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You said that if resources were limited,
(d) b would be the same whatever the density was.
no -- put yourself in this position and think about whether it would be easier to have kids when there were, say, just 100 of you competing for the resources or when there were 500. Since it will be harder for yo to get enough resources to produce kids when you're competing with more other members of your species, b will depend on density.
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You said that if resources were limited,
(e) need more information to answer the question.
no, you've got enough information -- put yourself in this position and think about whether it would be easier to have kids when there were, say, just 100 of you competing for the resources or when there were 500. This will tell you whether b depends on density, and whether it will increase or decrease if density gets higher.
Click here to return to question 6.