Hypothesis
I feel at first the lynx’s will die
and only couple of the rabbits will be killed. The main reason I feel this way
is because of the small amount of rabbits in the environment. As generations
pass the number of rabbits will rise quickly as they double in numbers after
each generation this will then cause the Lynx’s to have a better chance of
catching three rabbits. When a lynx does survive it automatically reproduces
another lynx for the next generation. What then will happen is that the lynx
population will slowly grow but as this happens the rabbits population will begin
to decrease at a higher rate as 3 rabbits equals 1 lynx. The lynx population
will not last long as there won’t be enough rabbits causing a larger number of
lynx to die in one generation, after this generation the whole process will
begin all over again much like it did in the first generation.
 |
| Generation 4 lynx capturing three rabbits |
Generation 1-4
During the first three generations the lynx's where only able to kill one rabbit each. In the fourth generation I was able
to catch 3 rabbits in the environment mainly due to the fact that there were 10
rabbits in the environment making it somewhat easier to catch the rabbits. I did
find it hard to catch the rabbit in the environment as the environment was a 12x the size of
a rabbit but to my surprise I was able to catch three by generation 4. Even after
I did kill the three rabbits in the fourth generation the rabbits population was higher in the fifth generation than the fourth.
 |
| Generation 6 lynx capturing three rabbits |
Generation 5-7
Generation
five - two lynx’s and 14 rabbits started this generation. One first lynx caught
three rabbits while the second lynx only caught one leaving 10 rabbits and one
link in the environment. Generation six two links and 20 rabbits started this
generation. Both links caught two rabbits decreasing the number of rabbits to
14. Generation seven four links and 28 rabbits started this generation. During this generation every lynx caught at least three rabbits with the first and
fourth catching four each. During these three generations only one lynx died while 7 lynx where reproduced compared with the rabbit population which still grew but at a much slower pace as there was a total of 24 rabbits killed during the three generations.
 |
| Generation 9 last lynx of the generation capturing three rabits |
Generation 8-9
Generation
eight lynx and 28 rabbits started this generation. The first fourth and sixth lynx caught two
rabbits each. The second third seventh
and eighth each caught three. While the
fifth lynx caught four rabbits. At the
end of this generation are six rabbits and five lynx remaining. Generation nine started with 10 lynx and 12 rabbits
the number of lynx during this generation was the highest until generation 20.
The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth lynx each caught
one rabbit while the second lynx caught two.
The only lynx back caught three was the first one for the first time
there were no rabbits left in the environment.
 |
| Generation 12 lynx capturing one rabbit |
Generation 10-15
The tenth generation
started with two links and three rabbits. The two lynx in the environment only
caught one rabbit each. Generation eleven and twelve each had both lynx only catching
one rabbit each. During generations thirteen through fifteen all of the lynx
only caught 2 rabbits which then caused the rabbits population to stay lower
for longer period of time. During generations thirteen through fifteen I threw
the lynx from a further distance to see if it would make a difference it did in
one instance as it took longer for the lynx to capture three rabbits.
 |
| Generation 17 first lynx of the generation capturing four rabbits |
Generation 16-18
Generation sixteen started with one lynx and twenty rabbits.
During this generation the lynx caught four rabbits the first time a lynx had survived
since the ninth generation. Generation seventeen stared with two lynx and
thirty two rabbits. The first lynx caught 4 rabbits and the second one caught 3
rabbits. I was somewhat surprised that I didn’t catch more with each lynx see
that the environment had more rabbits in it at any other generation. Generation
eighteen started with four lynx and fifty rabbits. During this generation the
first and second lynx’s each caught five rabbits while the third caught seven
and the fourth caught 4. For the first time one lynx reproduced more than one
lynx in a generation, much of this was due to the fact that there was fifty
rabbits in the environment make impossible not to catch a bunch of rabbits in
one throw. This generation marked the begging of the end for the for the lynx
population as the number of lynx going in to the next generation would be nine
and number of rabbits would be fifty eight only eight more than the number that
started generation eighteen while the lynx population more than doubled.
 |
| Generation 19 fourth lynx in generation capturing eight rabbits |
Generation 19-20
Generation nineteen
started with nine lynx’s and fifty eight rabbits. This was the best generation
for the lynx as they average almost 6 rabbits each, and reproduced many for the
next generation. This was also was the worst generations for the rabbits, as
fifty three were eaten. Generation twenty started with twenty three lynx’s and twelve
rabbits. Every lynx in this generation died as there was simple not enough
rabbits for them to eat.
Results
During the experiment I used two different techniques
when throwing the lynx the first one I used was used during the first nine
generations. What I did was focused on just catching the minion amount of
rabbits with each lynx and see what would happen what I found was that the
number of animals didn’t jump in numbers greatly like generations ten through twenty. These first
nine rounds seemed to be the most balanced compared to the generations ten
through twenty. Even after only trying to capture the minion of rabbits the
environment crashed and everything had to start over. During generations ten through
twenty I used a different approach the exact opposite of the first I tried to
go after the largest group of rabbits and capture as many as I could with one
lynx. While some of the generations where like some of the other generations
earlier it did change a little in the fact it took only took until the fourth
generation four a lynx to capture three rabbits, but wasn’t until generation
sixteen that a lynx caught three rabbits which is six generations from when
both lynx’s and the rabbits essentially started over in generation ten. Animal numbers
in generations ten through twenty jumped greatly compared to the first nine generations
much of that thought I feel was due to the approach I took at capturing more
rabbits with one lynx.
One study on the
snowshoe hare and the Canadian lynx in the boreal forests of North America show
the population density occur in 9- to 11-year cycles. "These are generally
assumed to be linked to each other because lynx are specialist predators on
hares" (Stenseth, Falck, Bjørnstad & Krebs, 1997). The lynx
control in which their populations are regulated from below by prey
availability. They also state that "the lynx is primarily influenced by the
snowshoe hare" (Stenseth, Falck, Bjørnstad & Krebs, 1997). I found this
study very interesting as many of the cycles I had in my experiment where much
like theirs in the fact that my population would plummet after 9-11 generations and then do it agian after another 9-11 generations.
Questions
A.
Variables that could change an environment
1.
What would happen if Diseases came into the
ecosystem killing the rabbits or lynx’s?
Many of the normal patterns that occur in this
environment might not stay. Let’s say a rabbit became infected with a disease
would he die from it or would he spread it to other rabbits or would he be
eaten by a lynx and then infect the lynx maybe killing it or the lynx spreading
the disease to other lynx.
2.
What happens if the rabbits reproduce at a
greater or lower rate?
As stated the rabbits double after each
generation but what would happen if it tripled it would change the environment
as there would be more rabbits making it easier for the lynx to capture three rabbits.
This also is the same if rabbit didn’t double after each generation but only produce
a few rabbits each time you may not be able to have a lynx ever survive.
3.
What If the rabbit’s food supply is taken away?
If the food source was taken away the animal
would be forced to find a different one, but if find one but kills it or makes
it sick it might affect the rate at which the rabbits reproduce causing the
lynx not have enough food as there are fewer rabbits. If the rabbits couldn’t find
another food source would die and causing the lynx to die too unless it can
find another food source besides the rabbits.
4.
What if the rabbits are killed by humans?
There are many
people that kill rabbits if this happened the rabbits would decrease in numbers
and there wouldn’t be enough for the lynx. What if to the rabbits where only
being killed in one part of the environment would the rabbit not go there making
the area where they can be smaller and making it easier for the lynx to capture
them. All of this can be also looked at for the lynx as larger animals are often
killed more than smaller ones.
5.
What if the environment is made smaller?
The rabbits
would populate at great numbers as it would be easy for the lynx to capture
three rabbits much early than normally. The rabbits did very well in the early
rounds but only because they had so much space, they might even die to quickly leaving
non in the environment.
B.
What might be the outcome if the lynx was exterminated?
The rabbit’s numbers would be at 98 in 6 generations. The
vegetation the food source for the rabbit would be gone after a short time
causing the rabbits numbers to deplete causing them to die. What if to that the
rabbit eat everything in its environment causing every other animal to also die
the environment may never be able to come back.
C.
What patterns did you observe?
There were highs and lows with each animal. This
constant changing always left one animal lower than the other. If the rabbits did
well in a generation the lynx was going to good the next round as there were
more rabbits. This process happened over and over again causing a pattern.
C.
Describe any evident lag times.
The first lag time was at the beginning for the first
three generations when there weren’t enough rabbits for the lynx. The second
lag time lasted a lot longer though from generations ten through fifteen as no
lynx survived until generation sixteen the main reason for this though the lynx’s
population reached ten in generation nine causing all of the rabbits die and
then causing generation ten to have only three rabbits not enough rabbits for
two lynx.
Conclusion
At the end of the experiment I found most of my hypothesis was correct but
some of it was wrong many on the fact of the numbers I felt that the lynx would
gradually populate but there was only four generation (8, 9, 19 and 20) that
had a large number of lynx’s and two of those generation only had a somewhat large
number of lynx’s. I felt that there would be at least eight or nine rounds
about 50 percent of the generations with larger number of lynx’s. I also felt that
the rabbit’s numbers would peak at larger numbers seeing that they would double
after each round. The number of lynx’s that starved compared with the one’s
that survived was 3:1 which is what I felt would happen as the environment is too
big for the lynx’s to capture three rabbits.
Another interesting thing I found was that while there was a pyramid
systems were the top predator has smaller numbers than the prey. There was one
generation where the lynx’s had larger numbers than the rabbits, and in another
generation the difference between top predator and prey was only separated by
two, but with both generations the lynx’s loss 90 percent of their own kind
because there was no food for them. While there was only two animals in the
environment it does show how an environment works in patterns, and gives people
information when one animal might have greater numbers than say the other.
|
Predator-prey Simulation Data
|
||||||
|
Generation of Rabbits
|
Number of Lynx
|
Number of Rabbits
|
Rabbits Eaten (Total)
|
Rabbits Remaining
|
Lynx Starved
|
Lynx Surviving
|
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
|
4
|
1
|
10
|
3
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
|
5
|
2
|
14
|
4
|
10
|
1
|
1
|
|
6
|
2
|
20
|
6
|
14
|
0
|
2
|
|
7
|
4
|
28
|
14
|
14
|
0
|
4
|
|
8
|
8
|
28
|
22
|
6
|
3
|
5
|
|
9
|
10
|
12
|
12
|
0
|
9
|
1
|
|
10
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
|
11
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
|
12
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
|
13
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
|
14
|
1
|
8
|
2
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
|
15
|
1
|
12
|
2
|
10
|
1
|
0
|
|
16
|
1
|
20
|
4
|
16
|
0
|
1
|
|
17
|
2
|
32
|
7
|
25
|
0
|
2
|
|
18
|
4
|
50
|
21
|
29
|
0
|
4
|
|
19
|
9
|
58
|
53
|
6
|
0
|
9
|
|
20
|
23
|
12
|
12
|
0
|
23
|
0
|
Works Cited
Stenseth, N. C., Falck, W., Bjørnstad, O. N., & Krebs, C. J. (1997, May 13). Population regulation in snowshoe hare and canadian lynx: Asymmetric food web configurations between hare and lynx. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/94/10/5147.full
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