Question

for most populations, available resources are limited and restrict how much a population can grow. as a result, most populations cannot exhibit exponential growth forever. consider once again the population of bacteria growing in a petri dish. the petri dish initially contained nutrient agar for food, but no further nutrient agar was added later. the dish also had a lid that kept bacteria from immigrating into or emigrating out of the dish. this graph shows the growth of the population of bacteria over 24 hours. (graph: bacterial population with time elapsed (hours) on x - axis (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24) and population size (in billions) on y - axis. data points show growth over time.) select all the statements about this population that are supported by the graph. the population grew relatively slowly for the first 12 hours. the population grew relatively quickly between hours 14 and 18. the population size did not change much after hour 19. the population grew exponentially for all 24 hours.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze first statement

Check the graph for the first 12 hours. The population (y - axis) has very small values (close to 0) and changes little, so growth is slow. So "The population grew relatively slowly for the first 12 hours" is supported.

Step2: Analyze second statement

Look at hours 14 - 18. The y - values (population) increase from a low number to a higher number quickly (the slope of the graph segment here is steep), so growth is quick. So "The population grew relatively quickly between hours 14 and 18" is supported.

Step3: Analyze third statement

After hour 19, the data points are relatively flat (y - values don't change much), so the population size did not change much. So "The population size did not change much after hour 19" is supported.

Step4: Analyze fourth statement

Exponential growth has a curve that keeps increasing with increasing slope. But after hour 19, the population stops growing (flat line), so it is not exponential growth for all 24 hours. So this statement is not supported.

Answer:

The statements supported by the graph are:

• The population grew relatively slowly for the first 12 hours.
• The population grew relatively quickly between hours 14 and 18.
• The population size did not change much after hour 19.