A population ecologist recorded the initial population size and the number of new births over a period of one month for four different insect species in a laboratory. The data is presented below: Species P: Initial population = 50 , New births = 15 Species Q: Initial population = 200 , New births = 40 Species R: Initial population = 10 , New births = 4 Species S: Initial population = 100 , New births = 25 Which speci

Step-by-step solution

The per capita birth rate is calculated by dividing the number of new births by the initial population size. For Species P: 15 50 = 0.30 For Species Q: 40 200 = 0.20 For Species R: 4 10 = 0.40 For Species S: 25 100 = 0.25 Comparing the values, Species R has the highest per capita birth rate ( 0.40 ). Students may incorrectly choose Species Q if they only look at the highest absolute number of births ( 40 ) without calculating the per capita rate. Answer: Species R