A. Deer: Predation or Starvation Background Information: In 1970 the deer population of an island forest reserve
about 518 square kilometers in size was about 2000 animals. 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 data collected during 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 in the last column for
each year. The first has been calculated for you. Then graph the deer and wolf populations on the
graph below. Use one color to show deer populations and another color to show wolf populations
Year
Predation
Starvation
Wolf
Population
10
12
Number of
Deer
Offspring
800
920
Deer
Population
2.000
21300
1971
1972
Deer
Population
Change
-300
400
480
100
240
1973
18
2.500
1.000
1840
500
1974
22
2.360
942
880
180
1975
28
2.224
996
10120
28
1976
24
2.094
838
980
2
1977
21
11968
788
840
0