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4.7) Delay, Overshoot And Oscillation


Introducing a delay into the feedback loop that limits growth allows the system to overshoot its carrying capacity. So long as the carrying capacity remains fixed, the system will then oscillate around it.


(Source: Sterman, J.D. "Business Dynamics: Systems thinking and modelling for a complex world", McGraw Hill, 2000.)

Although this behaviour is known to occur for some species populations, it indicates that the carrying capacity is exogenous to the system – it is not affected by the population itself. More commonly, the carrying capacity will be an endogenous part of the system, in which case...