In a laboratory experiment, a population of beetles experienced a per capita death rate of 0.12 individuals per beetle per week. If 36 beetles died during that week, what was the initial size of the beetle population before these deaths occurred?

Step-by-step solution

The per capita death rate is calculated as the number of deaths divided by the initial population size. Given: Per capita death rate = 0.12 Number of deaths = 36 Let the initial population size be N . Per capita death rate = Number of deaths N 0.12 = 36 N N = 36 0.12 = 300 The initial size of the beetle population was 300 . Answer: 300