Summary:
- Populations may show different patterns of growth.
- Growth pattern depends partly on the conditions under which a population lives.
- Under ideal conditions, populations of most species can grow at exponential rates.
- Most populations do not live under ideal conditions and grow logistically instead.
- Many factors may limit growth.
- Often, the factors are density dependent (known as density-dependent factors) These are factors that are influential when the population becomes too large and crowded.
- Population growth hits a ceiling at that size in the logistic growth model.