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Understanding the factors that control species distributions has long been of in

ID: 48587 • Letter: U

Question

Understanding the factors that control species distributions has long been of interest to ecologists. On rocky shores, the upper borders of species distributions are generally assumed to be set by physical factors while lower borders are set by biotic interactions such as predation and competition. Researchers studied the survival of barnacles in the intertidal zone as a function of predators (adult crab, juvenile crab, no crab) and barnacle density (WN, with neighbors, or S, solitary (no neighbors)). Consider the following figure:

1) What is/are the independent variable(s)?       

a) predators

b) barnacle density

c) predators and barnacle density

d) barnacle survival

3) How many different treatment combinations are there in this experimental design?

a) two

b) three

c) six

d) twelve

4) Which treatment would you consider to be the “control”?

a) solitary (no neighbors)

b) no crab

c) solitary, no crab

d) no barnacle   

5) Which treatment appears to have had the greatest impact on barnacle survival?

a) solitary, no crab

b) solitary, adult crab

c) with neighbors, adult crab

d) cannot be determined

1251 100 75 50 25 WN Density No Crab Juvenile Crab Adult Crab

Explanation / Answer

1. b) barnacle density.

3. b) three

4. b) no crab

5. c) with neighbors, adult crab