Question

Define Growth rate?

Answer 1

Hint:-Growth rates are something related to an increase or a decline in overall growth of organisms influencing size of the population. The growth rates can be affected by various factors, depending upon which, the organisms can show varying growth patterns.

Complete Answer:-The growth rate is defined as the rate at which the number of organisms in a population increases. The two most commonly used models for studying growth rate is Exponential and Logistic growth models
In some cases, organisms grow uncontrollably in the presence of unlimited resources. This accelerating growth pattern is often referred to as an exponential growth. Bacteria commonly show the exponential growth pattern. These prokaryotic organisms (bacteria) reproduce asexually by fission. In the exponential growth pattern, the number of new individuals added in each generation keeps on accelerating at a higher and higher rate. Hence, this gives a J-shaped curve representing the growth rates. However, exponential growth is just a hypothetical situation as the resources available can never be unlimited.

Additional information: In real cases, where the resources are always limited, the individuals often show logistic growth patterns. In logistic growth, the population growth decreases when resources become scarce. This model of growth is more realistic than the exponential growth pattern. Logistic growth produces an S- shaped graph.

Note:- Depending upon the availability of organisms can either show exponential growth patterns or logistic growth patterns. As a result, the population size varies in accordance with an increase in the number of organisms with respect to time factor.