Figure 3. Potential Steller sea lion population trajectory and female recruitment modeled as a function of abundance.

The potential population trajectory is calculated as the difference between the birth pulse pup seed count (the theoretical requirement for a stable population) and the actual number of births for a given natality and survivorship schedule - the Pup difference - see text. Female recruitment is the percentage of female pups surviving to the end of year 4. 100% abundance corresponds to 180,000 individuals. (A) The Flat numerical response. (B) The Linear numerical response. (C) The Sigmoid numerical response.