Visit Population Biology and complete the virtual lab.
1. Explain how you tested your hypothesis. (Give details of how you conducted your experiment. Consider this the "Methods" section of a lab report.)
2. On what day did the Paramecium caudatum population reach the carrying capacity of the environment when it was grown alone? How do you know?
3. On what day did the Paramecium aurelia population reach the carrying capacity of the environment? How do you know?
4. Explain the differences in the population growth patterns of the two Paramecium species. What does this tell you about how Paramecium aurelia uses available resources?
5. Describe what happened when the Paramecium populations were mixed in the same test tube. Do the results support the principle of competitive exclusion?
6. Explain how this experiment demonstrates that no two species can occupy the same niche.