Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Rabbit Population by Season

Vocabulary: carrying capacity, density-dependent limiting factor, density-independent limiting

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Suppose you had a pet rabbit. What would the rabbit need to stay alive and healthy?

Have a good environment, great nutrition, exercises for the rabbit, and a vet.

2. A female rabbit can give birth to over 40 baby rabbits a year. Suppose all of her offspring
survived and reproduced, all of their offspring survived and reproduced, and so on. If that
happened, in only eight years the mass of rabbits would exceed the mass of Earth!

So, why aren’t we overrun with rabbits? What keeps the rabbit population in check?

Most factors are predation keeping the rabbit population in check.

Gizmo Warm-up
A population is a group of individuals of the same
species that live in the same area. The size of a
population is determined by many factors. In the Rabbit
Population by Season Gizmo, you will see how different
factors influence how a rabbit population grows and
changes.

1. Select the BAR CHART tab. What is the size of the

initial rabbit population? 40

2. Select the TABLE tab. Click Play ( ), and allow the simulation to run for one year.

A. In which season did the rabbit population increase the most? Spring

B. In which season did the rabbit population increase the least? winter

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Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Carrying capacity ● Click Reset ( ).

Question: What determines how large a population can grow?

1. Think about it: A limiting factor is any factor that controls the growth of a population. What

do you think are some of the limiting factors for the rabbit population? Food, predation, and

their resources.

2. Run Gizmo: Select the DESCRIPTION tab. Set the Simulation speed to Fast. Select the
GRAPH tab. Click Play, and allow the simulation to run for at least 10 years. (Note: You can
use the zoom controls on the right to see the whole graph.)

A. Describe how the rabbit population changed over the course of 10 years. The first 3
years, the population increased then went up and down for the rest of the years,

B. What pattern did you see repeated every year? Every year the rabbit population
increased during spring, then decreased by winter.

C. How could you explain this pattern? In spring, the rabbit population would be at the
highest, go down during summer, and then drop in fall and winter.

3. Analyze: The carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals of a particular

A. What is this environment’s approximate carrying capacity for rabbits? (Note: Average

the summer and winter carrying capacities.) The carrying capacity would be 390.

B. When did the rabbit population reach carrying capacity? Explain how you know.

The rabbit population reached carrying capacity during the end of spring because at
the beginning of summer the rabbit population would decline.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
● Click Reset.
Limiting factors
Part 1 ● On the SIMULATION pane, make sure Ample is
selected for the amount of LAND available.

Introduction: Population density is the number of individuals in a population per unit of area.
Some limiting factors only affect a population when its density reaches a certain level.

Question: How does a limiting factor affect carrying capacity?

1. Think about it: What do you think some limiting factors might be? Some might be resources,

overcrowding, and diseases

2. Predict: Suppose a shopping mall is built near a rabbit warren, leaving less land available for
rabbits. How will this affect the environment’s carrying capacity?

It limits the space for them to grow and not have lots of space for them to grow and get
access to recources.

3. Experiment: Use the Gizmo to find the carrying capacity with Ample, Moderate, and Little
land. List the carrying capacities below.

Ample: 417 Moderate: 296 Little: 105

4. Analyze: How did the amount of space available to the rabbits affect how many individuals

the environment could support? It affected how many individuals the environment could

support by not having shelter, and recources.

5. Infer: Why do you think limiting a population’s space decreases the carrying capacity?
Because animals need shelter, resources and space to grow.

6. Challenge yourself: Other than space, what might be another limiting factor? Explain.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
● Click Reset.
Limiting factors Part
2 ● On the SIMULATION pane, select Ample for the
amount of LAND available.

Introduction: Not all limiting factors are related to a population’s density. Some limiting factors
affect a population regardless of its size and density.

Question: How does a limiting factor affect how a population grows?

1. Think about it: What do you think some limiting factors might be that will negatively affect a

population size regardless of its size and density?

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2. Gather data: Click Play. Allow the population to reach carrying capacity. Click Pause ( ).
Select the GRAPH tab and click the camera ( ) to take a snapshot of the graph. Paste the
snapshot into a blank document. Label the graph “Normal Weather.”

3. Predict: How do you think a period of harsh winters will affect the rabbit population?

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4. Investigate: Click Reset. Select Harsh winter from the CONDITIONS listed on the
SIMULATION pane. Click Play, and observe the how the population changes over five
years. Paste a snapshot of the graph in your document. Label the graph “Harsh Winter.”

A. How does the Harsh Winter graph differ from the Normal Weather graph? ________

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B. What do you think most likely caused the differences seen in the two graphs?

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5. Predict: Rabbits reproduce in the spring. How do you think a period of cold springs will affect
the rabbit population? _______________________________________________________
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(Activity C continued on next page)

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Activity C (continued from previous page)

6. Investigate: Deselect Harsh winter. Select Cold spring. Click Play, and observe the how
the population changes over a period of five years. Paste a snapshot of the graph in your
document and label the graph “Cold Spring.”

A. How does the Cold Spring graph differ from the Normal Weather graph? _________

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B. What do you think most likely caused the differences seen in the two graphs?

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7. Predict: How do you think a period of hot summers will affect the rabbit population?

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8. Investigate: Deselect Cold spring. Select Hot summer. Click Play, and observe the how
the population changes over a period of five years. Paste a snapshot of the graph in your
document. Label the graph “Hot Summer.”

A. How does the Hot Summer graph differ from the Normal Weather graph? ________

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B. What do you think most likely caused the differences seen in the two graphs?

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9. Think and discuss: Other than unusual weather, what might be another limiting factor that
could affect the rabbit population regardless of its size and density?
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2019