28 Q 15
What is the difference between density-dependent and density-independent causes of fluctuations of the size of mammalian populations?
Irregular fluctuations are commonly produced by variations in climate, such as unusually hot, cold, dry, or natural catastrophes-such as fires, hailstorms, and hurricanes. These are density-independent factors because they affect a population whether it is crowded or dispersed. However, the spectacular fluctuations are density-dependent; that is they correlate with population crowding.
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