Biological populations obeying difference equations: the effects of stochastic perturbation

We consider the effects of stochastic perturbation in various components of a finite difference model arising in population biology. In particular, we examine how fluctuation in the net reproductive rate can effect the population dynamics of the system. Computer simulation and some elementary analyses bear out the result that, in the mean, the stochastic dynamics will behave like the deterministic dynamics. This study also answers a currently unanswered conjecture published by the first author in 1977.