Lionfish Invasion: Density-Dependent Population Dynamics

Resource Type
Description
In this Click & Learn, students explore mathematical models that describe how populations change over time and apply these models to the invasive lionfish population in the Bahamas. They also use data from other species to learn how density-dependent factors limit population size.
The Click & Learn includes realistic and actual data from lionfish and other case studies. It provides opportunities to use the logistic growth model, graph data, and interpret figures from published scientific research.
The accompanying worksheet and “Case Studies Handouts” document guide students’ exploration. Some of the questions in these documents are identical to those embedded in the Click & Learn.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Describe invasive species and their impacts on ecosystems.
- Define carrying capacity and explain how it relates to density-dependent population growth.
- Use discrete-time and continuous-time logistic equations to model population dynamics.
- Interpret data and graphs to describe how the population growth rate varies with population density in a logistic model.
- Compare realistic field data to projections from models.
- Use data from case studies to explain how various negative density-dependent factors regulate population size.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
carrying capacity, growth rate, invasive species, logistic growth, marine biology, mathematical population model, oceanography, population estimate, population regulation
Primary Literature
Green, Stephanie J., John L. Akins, Aleksandra Maljković, and Isabelle M. Côté. “Invasive lionfish drive Atlantic coral reef fish declines.” PLoS ONE 7, 3 (2012): e32596. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032596.
Côté, I. M., and N. S. Smith. “The lionfish Pterois sp. invasion: Has the worst‐case scenario come to pass?” Journal of Fish Biology 92, 3 (2018): 660–689. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13544.
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS2-1, HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-6, SEP2, SEP5
AP Biology (2019)
SYI-1.G, SYI-1.H, SYI-3.D; SP1, SP4, SP5
IB Biology (2016)
4.1, C.5
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 3.4, 3.5, 9.8
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-3.E, ERT-3.F, EIN-4.A, SP1, SP2, SP5, SP6
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.7; Math.A-SSE.1, Math.F-IF.7, MP2, MP4
Vision and Change (2009)
CC5, DP2, DP3, DP6