test reserve about 518 square kilometers in size was Although the island had excellent vegetation for feeding, the food supply obviously had limits. Thus the forest management personnel feared that overgrazing might lead to mass starvation. Since the area was too remote for hunters, the wildlife service decided to bring in natural predators to control the deer population. It was hoped that natural predation would keep the deer population from becoming too large and also increase the deer quality (or health), as predators often eliminate the weaker members of the herd. In 1971, ten wolves were flown into the island. The results of this program are shown in the following table. The Population Change is the number of deer born minus the number of deer that died during that year. Fill out the last column for each year (the first has been calculated for you). Year Wolf Deer Deer Population Population Offspring 10 12 16 800 920 1,000 1944 22 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Deer Predation Starvation Population Change 400 100 +300 1480 240 640 500 1880 180 1,120 26 960 2 1840 10 720 0 2.000 2,300 12,500 12,360 12,224 2,074 |1.948 1,896 1,862 1.882 28 24 996 21 18 19 836 788 766 780 790 19 0 760 1760 0 Deer and Wolf​