Conservation biologists don't just ask "how much habitat should we protect?" —
they model it. A population's growth is commonly approximated with the
logistic growth equation, dN/dt = rN(1 − N/K), where K
(carrying capacity) is set largely by how much usable habitat exists. This lab turns
a reserve boundary into a live 3D landscape: animals roam inside it, the population
climbs toward K, and random environmental "shock" years can push a small population
toward its minimum viable population (MVP) threshold.
The "SLOSS" debate (Single Large Or Several Small reserves) has occupied conservation biology since the 1970s. Corridors are one of the most cost-effective tools discovered since: they don't add habitat area, but by reconnecting fragments they restore gene flow and rescue effects that a single small patch alone cannot provide.
A live 3D reserve where a wildlife population grows toward its habitat's carrying capacity under the logistic growth model, while reserve size, fragmentation and corridors change how close it drifts to extinction.
Carrying capacity K scales with protected area; population size follows dN/dt = rN(1−N/K) with added environmental noise. Splitting one reserve into isolated fragments cuts effective K, while a corridor between fragments largely restores it.
Adjust reserve radius, growth rate and environmental stochasticity, and switch between a single reserve, two isolated fragments, or fragments joined by a corridor. Watch the population count, carrying capacity and minimum-viable-population status update each simulated year.
The "Single Large Or Several Small" (SLOSS) debate has shaped reserve design since the 1970s — and habitat corridors, first proposed to counter fragmentation, remain one of the cheapest ways to raise a landscape's effective carrying capacity.