The Human-Wolf Simulation … Fitted!
Population Ecology - EFB 370
Due date: Friday, March 8, 2024, 11:59 pm.
Total Points: 10
Instructions: Submit this homework as a document. It can be entirely typed on a computer and uploaded on Blackboard, or completed as a combination of handwritten and printed (computer generated plots must be printed). Answer questions in complete sentences and explain how you obtained your answers. Only provide answers and include plots, do NOT send in code! Collaboration and discussion - openly and on the discussion forum - is highly encouraged, but do not provide and publicize actual answers.
In this assignment, you will fit the logistic growth curve to data on the human-wolf-simulation we collected last week, using the tools we practiced in the Lab.
You will need to download this dataset: WolfCounts2024.csv, which has seven
columns: Year and then six more representing the TOTAL
counts from the 6 biologists that monitored the human-wolf population.
They are: Alissa, Eli, Bruce, Randi, Raymond and Manny.
Here’s a plot of all the data:
1. (1 pts)
Load the dataset, and select one of the six sets of observations (perhaps from th biologsist in your group). Plot that curve, and comment on its shape, i.e. does it look (a) linear, (b) exponential, (c) sigmoidal or something else?
2. (2 pts)
Fit a logistic curve to the data “by hand”, i.e. using the logistic function we used in Part I of the lab. Report your best guess for \(N_0\), \(r_0\) and \(K\). Plot the fitted curve on the data in blue .
3. (3 pts)
Fit a logistic curve to the data using non-linear least squares. Report the point estimates and 95% Confidence Intervals of the three parameters. Plot the fitted curve on the data. Make the curve red .
4. (4 pts)
You know everything about the population ecology of this system. Does your analysis suggest there is density dependence in this system? If so, does it act on birth rates or death rates or both? Explain in detail!
