Their gestation period averages 31 days and the average litter size is 6 offspring. It is possible to have 8 litters per year. If we start with 1 fertile female and assume that O die and 50 percent of the litter is female, at the end of twelve months we have approximately 1,850 rabbits. There are several factors that prevent populations from reaching their biotic potential and we will consider some of them in the next lesson. The second characteristic of populations is the concept of density.
Density is defined as the number of individuals in a population in a given unit of space.
To illustrate, in the United States, we often talk about the number of people per square mile. In New York City there are many more people per square mile than there are in Samburg, Tennessee. Now you give some examples of population density. A third characteristic of population dynamics is called natality . Natality adds to the number in a population by reproduction.