Question

when a population approaches carrying capacity (the red dashed line on the graph), what happens to its growth rate (the blue line on the graph)?
it speeds up much faster.
it drops totally straight down.
it slows down then levels off.
it wavers up and down a lot.

Explanation:

In population biology, when a population approaches its carrying capacity (the maximum number of individuals an environment can sustain), resources become limited. This leads to increased competition for resources like food, water, and space. As a result, the population growth rate slows down. Eventually, when the population size reaches the carrying capacity, the growth rate levels off because the birth rate approximately equals the death rate. This is characteristic of logistic growth, which is depicted by the S - shaped curve in the graph.

Answer:

C. It slows down then levels off.