(Appendix) Bathyal benthic foraminifera in ODP Hole 166-1006A sediments

The percent carrying capacity Kp is the equilibrium population in percentage terms of a species that an area can support while adequately meeting the needs of every individual. It is readily determined from a time series of percentage abundances for a species, in which pit is the percentage abundance of the ith species at time t. The percentage point change in abundance of a species Dpi between two samples is given by Dpi = pit + 1 − pit, where pit + 1 is the percentage abundance at a subsequent time t + 1. The rate of population change in percentage points for each percent at a given time or point t, here termed rt, is given by rt = Dpi/pit. Linear regression of rt against pit gives rt = rm–s · pit, in which the constant rm is the rate of increase in rt where pit approaches zero, and the negative slope s represents the combined strength of intraspecific, interspecific and abiotic interactions for the species investigated. Setting rt = 0, so that pit = Kp and rm–s · Kp = 0, gives Kp = rm/s.