Population Growth of Pumpkin

Seeds
Generati
on
Number of plants
1
2
3
4
5

809
654481
529475129.00
428345379361.00
346531411903049.00

Exponential Population Growth

1.00E+016
100000000000000
1000000000000
10000000000
Number of plants

100000000
1000000
10000
100
1

Generation (years)

1.) I started with 809 seeds from a small pumpkin.

2.) After 5 generations of exponential growth, there are 346,531,411,903,049.00
quadrillion pumpkin plants.

3.) The numbers are astronomical, so I used a log scale with the years shown on
the x-axis and the number of plants on the y-axis.
4.) Five environmental factors that might limit natural or wild population are:
a. Food resources How much food is available as well as the quality of
the nutrients in the food.
b. Population density When populations become crowded, they compete
for food, water, space, sunlight and other essentials elements.
c. Water quality and availability.
d. Weather conditions and natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes,
volcanoes and floods.
e. Predators, infectious disease organisms and parasites
5.) If a population were subjected to the environmental factors listed above for a
considerable length of time, I would expect to see changes in the population.
In densely populated areas where natural resources have not been managed
well or where they are simply in short supply, living things have and will
perish. Food and water shortages are a problem in many areas of the world
and pose a big threat to humanity. I have been studying the period of time in
Eastern Europe after WWII where people starved to death in massive
numbers. In Leningrad, approx. 1,000 individuals starved to death every day
for 3 years after the war. People are starving in East Africa today. Successive
crop failures caused by drought have caused severe food shortages. A
famine in Ethiopia between 1983 and 1985 resulted in the death of over
400,000 people. The area is currently over populated with nearly 100 million
people. They have quite simply exceeded the carrying capacity. Water
supply and water quality is a significant concern. No living thing can survive
without water. Water shortages in highly populated areas such as California
have become a major concern. Areas of Arizona and New Mexico use more
water than they get in a renewable supply. These are just a few examples.
Natural Disasters can devastate populations. In 1970, a tropical cyclone
killed 600,000 people. In 1989 a tornado in Daultipur and Salturia
Bangladesh destroyed everything but a few trees. The earthquake and
resulting fires of 1906 in San Francisco took thousands of lives. The china
floods in 1931 killed several million people, plants and animals.
Infectious disease can devastate communities. Areas of the world are dealing
with outbreaks of Cholera, Malaria, Measles, Hemorrhagic Fever, Middle East
respiratory syndrome, HIV and Ebola. All have an impact on populations, by
causing death or by impacting sterility.