Chapter 8.7, Problem 13ES

b Solve.

Otter Population. Due primarily to the irresponsible use of chemicals, England’s otter population declined dramatically during the twentieth century until otters could be found on only a small percentage of riverbanks. After chemical bans were put in place, the number of English riverside sites $R\left(t\right)$ occupied by otters rose significantly and can be approximated by the exponential function

$R\left(t\right)=294{\left(1.074\right)}^t$

where t is the number of years since 1985.

Data: Nicolson, Adam, “The Sultans of Streams,” National Geographic 223(2), February 2013, pp. 124–134.

a. How many riverbanks were occupied by otters in 2010?

b. In what year were there otters on 1000 riverbanks?

c. What is the doubling time for the number of English riverbanks occupied by otters?