How Does Tribolium Castaneum Affect Population Growth

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Tribolium Population Dynamics Proposal

Names: Samuel Higgins, Zach Kuban, Bryan Nguyen, Tejal Patel (Group 5)
BIOL 1442 Section: 12
Lab Instructor: Ashley Asmus

Intraspecific Competition in Populations of Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum

RESEARCH QUESTION:

How does intraspecific competition between Tribolium affect population growth?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

A population is a group of species that live, interact, and interbreed in a geographic area. Intraspecific competition occurs when resources, which are necessary for a population, are limited and the individuals of the same species have to compete to survive. The Tribolium species reproduce at a rapid rate. The female lays 400-500 eggs that go through metamorphosis and within a few days, those adults are sexually mature and continue the reproduction process (Calderwood 1961). …show more content…

confusum have divergent behavior patterns. During an experiment between competition over limiting food resources (flour), T. casteum exhibited more aggression by eating their own larvae (Ho and Dawson 1966). Another experiment had similar results; after ten hours, 88% of T. confusum males and 33% females remained, and 2% of T. castaneum adults survived (Ghant 1966). The low population of T. castaneum is due to their cannibalistic nature. The purpose of conducting this experiment with the variable of different species is to determine whether or not there is more intraspecific competition in T. castaneum. In order to accomplish this, both populations of the Tribolium species will be measured over

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