A rancher is suspected of shooting wolves near Yellowstone National Park, and you have been enlisted to go have a chat with him. The rancher doesn’t see any benefit to having the wolves there. What do you say?

Question

A.  "If there are no predators like wolves, just one pair of jackrabbits can quickly create a population with explosive, logistic growth. Wolves help reduce the fecundity rate, keeping the population at a reasonable level."
B.  "If there are no predators like wolves, just one pair of jackrabbits can quickly create a population with explosive, exponential growth. Wolves help reduce the carrying capacity, keeping the population at a reasonable level."
C.  "If there are no predators like wolves, just one pair of jackrabbits can quickly create a metapopulation. Wolves help reduce the biotic potential, keeping the population at a reasonable level."
D.  "If there are no predators like wolves, just one pair of jackrabbits can quickly create a population with explosive, density-dependent growth. Wolves help reduce the age structure, keeping the population at a reasonable level."


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
In this question you are being asked to explain the benefits of having wolves.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an analysis question, you will need to break the question down into its components in order to get to the answer. 

Gather Content:
  What do you already know about the benefits of wolves in a community? What other information is related to the question? 

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

B.  "If there are no predators like wolves, just one pair of jackrabbits can quickly create a population with explosive, exponential growth. Wolves help reduce the carrying capacity, keeping the population at a reasonable level."


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
In this question you are being asked to explain the benefits of having wolves.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an analysis question, you will need to break the question down into its components in order to get to the answer. 

Gather Content:
  What do you already know about the benefits of wolves in a community? What other information is related to the question? 
When breaking down the answer choices the difference between all the choices is exactly what effect the wolves are having on the rabbits. Do the wolves reduce the fecundity rate, carrying capacity, biotic potential, or the age structure? Wolves eat rabbits, but this does not reduce the number of offspring a rabbit could potentially have. Wolves are most likely going to eat younger rabbits who are less experienced at avoiding wolves, thus they will not reduce the age structure of the population.


Choose Answer:
 
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
The answer is that wolves reduce the carrying capacity of the rabbit. Without wolves acting as a predator the population size of the rabbit would be higher. The wolves act as a break on the growth of rabbits. There are many other factors that play a role in determining the carrying capacity for the rabbits. The wolves are just one of many factors that can act to reduce it.


Reflection on Process:
 
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Were you able to select the correct answer? The key was to break down the choices and see what effect was the best choice. In the case, the wolves serve to control the population size of another animal that could be more detrimental to the rancher.