Instead of using individual diagrams to show the behavior of populations with different degrees of fertility, Robert May and other scientists used a “bifurcation diagram” to assemble all the information into a single picture. The diagram shows how changes in one parameter—in this case, a wildlife population’s “boom-and-bustiness”—would change the ultimate behavior of this simple system. Values of the parameter are represented from left to right; the final population is plotted on the vertical axis.
