White-footed mice occupy a broad ecological nichethey occur in most communities
ID: 212367 • Letter: W
Question
White-footed mice occupy a broad ecological nichethey occur in most communities regardless of habitat quality. Many other species, like the opossum, are absent from low-quality forest fragments. Based on this information and the graph, propose a hypothesis to explain the observed relationship between increased forest fragmentation and increased incidence of Lyme disease.
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narrow
decline
increases
increase
declines
are not
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As forest fragmentation increases, species richness will . As species richness , white-footed mice will still in the population (due to the species' niche), but species like opossums will (due to their niches). Since mice huge reservoirs of the Lyme bacterium and species like opossums , a greater percentage of animals present in forest fragments host the Lyme bacterium. Thus, the incidence of Lyme disease will .
Source: Keesing, F., J. Brunner, S. Duerr, et al. 2009. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276: 39113919. Ticks not infected with B. burgdorferi Ticks infected with B. burgdorferi 0.5 0.4 O0.3 0.2 20.1 8 9 E 2 White-footed CatbirdSquirrel Opossum 9 mouse Host speciesExplanation / Answer
As forest fragmentation increases, species richness will decline . As species richness declines , white-footed mice will still be present in the population (due to the species' broad niche), but species like opossums will be absent (due to their narrow niches). Since mice are huge reservoirs of the Lyme bacterium and species like opossums are not , a greater percentage of animals present in forest fragments will host the Lyme bacterium. Thus, the incidence of Lyme disease will increase.
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