A tool for rapid assessment of biological populations is needed because both resources and time are always limited in the real world. RAMAS Ecorisk uses stochastic simulations of population dynamics to calculate quasi-extinction risks that a population will be below a given density, and time to quasi-extinction, which is the probability that at a given time the density will have fallen below a specified threshold density. The four discrete stochastic
models used to simulate population dynamics are Malthusian growth, Malthusian with a ceiling, Malthusian with a time-delayed ceiling, and Ricker's model of density-dependent growth.
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