AsGilbertWhite，Darwin，andothersobservedlongago，allspeciesappeartohavetheinnatecapacitytoincreasetheirnumbersfromgenerationtogeneration.Thetaskforecologistsistountangletheenvironmentaandbiologicalfactorsthatholdthisintrinsiccapacityforpopulationgrowthincheckoverthelongrun.Thegreatvarietyofdynamicbehaviorsexhibitedbydifferentpopulationmakesthistaskmoredifficult：sompopulationsremainroughlyconstantfromyeartoyear;othersexhibitregularcyclesofabundanceandscarcity;stillothersvarywildly，withoutbreaksandcrashesthatareinsomecasesplainlycorrelatedwiththeweather，andinothercasesnot.Toimposesomeorderonthiskaleidoscopeofpatterns，oneschoolofthoughtproposesdividingpopulationsintotwogroups.Theseecologistspositthattherelativelysteadypopulationshavedensity-dependentgrowthparameters;thatis，ratesofbirth，death，andmigrationwhichdependstronglyonpopulationdensity.Thehighlyvaryingpopulationshavedensity-independentgrowthparameters，withvitalratesbuffetedbyenvironmentalevents;theseratesfluctuateinawaythatiswhollyindependentofpopulationdensity.Thisdichotomyhasitsuses，butitcancauseproblemsiftakentooliterally.Foronething，nopopulationcanbedrivenentirelybydensity-independentfactorsallthetime.Nomatterhowseverelyorunpredictablybirth，death，andmigrationratesmaybefluctuatingaroundtheirlong-termaverages，iftherewerenodensity-dependenteffects，thepopulationwould，inthelongrun，eitherincreaseordecreasewithoutbound(barringamiraclebywhichgainsandlossescanceledexactly)。Putanotherway，itmaybethatonaverage99percentofalldeathsinapopulationarisefromdensity-independentcauses，andonlyonepercentfromfactorsvaryingwithdensity.Thefactorsmakinguptheonepercentmayseemunimportant，andtheircausemaybecorrespondinglyhardtodetermine.Yet，whetherrecognizedornot，theywillusuallydeterminethelong-termaveragepopulationdensity.Inordertounderstandthenatureoftheecologist’sinvestigation，wemaythinkofthedensity-dependenteffectsongrowthparametersasthesignalecologistsaretryingtoisolateandinterpret，onethattendstomakethepopulationincreasefromrelativelylowvaluesordecreasefromrelativelyhighones，whilethedensity-independenteffectsacttoproducenoiseinthepopulationdynamics.Forpopulationsthatremainrelativelyconstant，orthatoscillatearoundrepeatedcycles，thesignalcanbefairlyeasilycharacterizedanditseffectsdescribed，eventhoughthecausativebiologicalmechanismmayremainunknown.Forirregularlyfluctuatingpopulations，wearelikelytohavetoofewobservationstohaveanyhopeofextractingthesignalfromtheoverwhelmingnoise.Butitnowseemsclearthatallpopulationsareregulatedbyamixtureofdensity-dependentanddensity-independenteffectsinvaryingproportions.

1.Theauthorofthetextisprimarilyconcernedwith

[A]Discussingtwocategoriesoffactorsthatcontrolpopulationgrowthandassessingtheirrelativeimportance.

[B]Describinghowgrowthratesinnaturalpopulationsfluctuateovertimeandexplainingwhythesechangesoccur.

[C]Proposingahypothesisconcerningpopulationsizeandsuggestingwaystotestit.

[D]Posingafundamentalquestionaboutenvironmentalfactorsinpopulationgrowthandpresentingsomecurrentlyacceptedanswer.

2.Itcanbeinferredfromthetextthattheauthorconsidersthedichotomydiscussedtobe

[A]Applicableonlytoerraticallyfluctuatingpopulations.

[B]instrumental，butonlyifitslimitationsarerecognized.

[C]Dangerouslymisleadinginmostcircumstances.

[D]Acompleteandsufficientwaytoaccountforobservedphenomena.

3.tothetext，allofthefollowingbehaviorshavebeenexhibitedbydifferentpopulationsEXCEPT

[A]Roughlyconstantpopulationlevelsfromyeartoyear.

[B]Regularcyclesofincreasesanddecreasesinnumbers.

[C]Erraticincreasesinnumberscorrelatedwiththeweather.

[D]Uncheckedincreasesinnumbersovermanygenerations.

4.Thediscussionconcerningpopulationinthethirdparagraphservesprimarilyto

[A]Demonstratethedifficultiesecologistsfaceinstudyingdensity-dependentfactorslimitingpopulationgrowth.

[B]Advocatemorerigorousstudyofdensity-dependentfactorsinpopulationgrowth.

[C]Provethatthedeathratesofanypopulationareneverentirelydensity-independent.

[D]underlinetheimportanceofevensmalldensity-dependentfactorsinregulatinglong-termpopulationdensities.

5.Inthetext，theauthordoesallofthefollowingEXCEPT

[A]Citetheviewsofotherbiologists.

[B]Defineabasicproblemthatthetextaddresses.

[C]Presentconceptualcategoriesusedbyotherbiologists.

[D]Describetheresultsofaparticularstudy.