imagine you are an ecologist studying population growth and decline in a species of rabbits. you decide to set up an experiment to observe how a rabbit population grows and changes when there are no predators. as preparation, you plant a secluded forest meadow with a species of flowers that the rabbits eat and then fence it off to protect the rabbits from predators. you release a small population of rabbits into the meadow and, over the next few years, record how their population changes over time. at first, the rabbits eat the flower and grasses in the meadow and reproduce. eventually, the population of flowers and grasses declines. then, the population of rabbits declines. after the number of rabbit decreases, grasses and flowers begin the grow again, and are eaten by the rabbits. neither the rabbit nor flower and grass populations return to their highest levels, but both continue to exist. what appears to be the limiting factor in the growth of this rabbit population? chegg
