A laboratory experiment is conducted where a yeast culture is grown in a test tube containing a fixed, limited concentration of sugar. When the population size is plotted against time, the curve shows an initial slow increase, followed by a rapid phase, and eventually flattens out at a maximum of 500 cells. Which mathematical model best describes this growth pattern, and what ecological term corresponds to the value

Step-by-step solution

The yeast culture is grown in a medium with a fixed, limited concentration of sugar, which means resources are finite. When resources are finite, population growth eventually slows down and stops as it reaches the maximum number of individuals the environment can support. This pattern—an initial lag phase, followed by a phase of acceleration and deceleration, and finally an asymptote—is characteristic of the Verhulst-Pearl logistic growth model. The maximum sustainable population size in this specific habitat (the