Irruptive Growth

Irruptive growth, sometimes called Malthusian growth, is a growth pattern over time, defined by population explosions and subsequent sharp population crashes, or diebacks. It is an extension of the Malthusian growth model, specifically the growth pattern that causes a Malthusian catastrophe, and can occur when populations overshoot their carrying capacity, a phenomenon typically associated with r-strategists. Populations which exhibit irruptive growth do not stabilize around their carrying capacity, a feature of logistic growth. Irruptive growth occurs when a species reproduces more rapidly than the environment is capable of supporting with the available resources. Irruptive growth is studied in population ecology.