Question

A laboratory experiment followed the growth of a flour beetle population over time. at first the population increased dramatically but later growth slowed and the population size leveled off. while food (the wheat flour in which they live) was abundant, the flour beetles began to eat their own eggs when densities got high. what might we hypothesize about this behavior in the flour beetles?

Answer 1

We can hypothesize that when the population density reaches a certain level, that flour beetles experience biological stresses not unlike that seen other animals, such as mice, where it becomes more beneficial to the population as a whole to implement control measures to prevent a population collapse due disease or a sudden decrease in food; even though at the present time resources seem more than abundant to handle the increased population.