Leaves of some plants are covered by a dense layer of fine hairs. Why do some pl

Question

Leaves of some plants are covered by a dense layer of fine hairs. Why do some plants have pubescent or hairy leaves? What do you think? Come up with one "testable" hypothesis or several hypotheses to explain why some plants have hairy leaves. Would you necessarily use the same Experiment to test the prediction based on the hypothesis you might choose to investigate? If the data from you EXPERIMENT were consistent with the hypothesis that you tested would that "PROVE" that your hypothesis was true?

Explanation / Answer

We can think of one testable hypothesis :

Hypothesis: Plants with hairy leaves will attract less herbivores as the herbovores cannot feed on the leaf tissue than plants without hairy leaves.

Yes, we can test the prediction based on the hypothesis we have chosen above as presence of hairy leaves are defense mechanisms that are used by plants to prevent the plants from herbivores.

Yes,if the data from our experiment were consistent with the hypothesis we tested, we can prove that our hypothesis was true.

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