It is especially common in large herbivores, such as pronghorn or elk (red deer), which have high fecundity and delayed density-dependent effects on recruitment.
The exhibition of irruptive growth is dependent on a number of elements including resource availability, degree of both interspecific and intraspecific competition, and strength of predator-prey relationships.
A species population may sometimes irrupt when predators are removed, or when favourable weather causes food supplies to rapidly increase.
[3] Irruptive growth patterns are also seen in mammal herbivores with a relatively small body size, or such creatures in Arctic ecosystems which are subject to population cycles.
[citation needed] The human species is K-strategist; that is, each mating pair has a small number of offspring, of which the majority will survive to adulthood and reach reproductive age.