Figure 3. The George River subpopulation tracked carrying capacity (K) throughout its population cycle. Maximum and minimum rates of annual (intrinsic+ immigration) population growth (λmax = 2.848; λmin = 0.345) were greater than the biological maximum annual intrinsic population growth rate (λmax = 1.363; Heard, 1980) during the eruption phase. The eruption period (λ > 1.0 and increasing over consecutive years or λ >1.20) lasted for approximately 9-years. When λt values were ≥1.2 we limited them to 1.2 for calculation of the associated Verhulst (1838) determination of Kt because the Verhulst logistic equation is specific for intrinsic λ only (no immigration). We choose λ ≥ 1.2 as the threshold because natural subpopulations experience some natural and harvest mortality; and because not every reproductive age female produces viable offspring in every year. Nt closely tracked Kt throughout the cycle with the maximum lag time over one complete cycle (1965-2017) being
4.334-years.