Algal blooms like this deplete dissolved oxygen in the water and are detrimental to farmed fish and the ecosystem around the facility, necessitating cautious farming practices.įishing wild populations may impact ecosystems as well. Therefore, it increases exponentially, and the size of the next generation in exponential growth can be calculated using this formula. Due to the continuous increase of resources. And this growth is not limited to a carrying capacity. If these resources remain high, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae can continue to divide at the same growth rate. However, overcrowding releases excess biomaterials, and this can lead to algal blooms. If we know the population size of the current generation, or Nt, the maximum growth rate, r-max, which is the reproductive rate of one individual when no competition exists, and the carrying capacity, we can use the logistic growth formula to estimate the population size of the next generation.Īt fish farms, resources like extra food and oxygen are artificially added to a relatively small living area, allowing population densities above natural carrying capacities. This type of population growth is known as logistic growth. However, population growth slows down when its size nears the carrying capacity, k, which is the maximum population size allowed by the resources in a habitat. In nature, fish populations grow at a high rate, when resources are plentiful. A group of individuals of a single species, living in an area at the same time, is called a population.
Have you ever considered the environmental effects of farm-raised, or wild-caught fish? We can study the ecological impacts of these practices, by looking at population growth.