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Joint Effects Of Population Density And Toxicant Exposure On Population Dynamics Of Capitella Sp. I, Valery E. Forbes, Richard M. Sibly, Inez Linke-Gamenick

Valery Forbes Publications

Very few studies have analyzed the dependence of population growth rate on population density, and even fewer have considered interaction effects of density and other stresses, such as exposure to toxic chemicals. Yet without such studies we cannot know whether chemicals harmful at low density have effects on carrying capacity or, conversely, whether chemicals reducing carrying capacity are also harmful at low density, impeding a population’s capacity to recover from disturbance. This study examines the combined effects of population density and a toxicant (fluoranthene) on population growth rate (pgr) and carrying capacity using the deposit-feeding polychaete Capitella sp. I as …