Effects of Resource Rich and Poor Environments on Gopher Tortoise Clutch Size

by Sophia DiPasquale

Submitted : Spring 2018

The application of calculus and probability in ecology is crucial for the calculations of population dynamics. Statistics can provide meaningful data to show the performance of a specific species in real time and the projected population. Gopher tortoises are important to the southeastern environments of the United States because their 10 ft deep burrows can provide shelter for an abundance of organisms. The probability of a sample data set of clutch sizes of individuals within a resource-rich and poor environment was used to provide a distribution function. The results of the distribution function present the likelihoods of each clutch size found in different habitat conditions. Lower to higher clutch sizes were found to be more probable in resource-rich environments while medium-sized clutch sizes were more probable in the resource-poor environment. 

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