Re: a question about reproductive strategies, another about

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.ATTGIS.COM>]

 From: JNorton@MAILBOX.UNE.EDU

 > I have two questions for the group:
 > 
 > 1)  When discussing dinosaur reproductive strategies, the terms
 > "r-strategy" and "K-strategy" are used.  I understand the definition of the
 > terms (I think) but want to know what the "r-"  and the "K-" stand for, if
 > anything.

They stand for the traditional names of the relevant parameters of
the logistic growth equation. Using ' to mean the derivative, the
equation is usually written as (p is population size => p' is
the change in population size):

      p' = p*r*K/(K-p)

In this equation, r is called the intrinsic rate of increase, and
K is called the carrying capacity (ostensibly of the environment).

For more information on this, look in any entry level college
text on population biology.

swf@elsegundoca.attgis.com              sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.