QUESTION 1 Imagine you are exploring the Australian Outback and stumble across t

Question

QUESTION 1

Imagine you are exploring the Australian Outback and stumble across two perfectly identical fields separated by a natural barrier. Field 1 is covered by large, grass-eating kangaroos and the other is covered by small, grass-eating wallabies.  Each field has an identical amount of grass as a resource.  There are only enough grass resources on field one to support 100 kangaroos, and only enough grass resources on field two to support 150 wallabies (wallabies are smaller so need less grass).  

You find out that a land developer is going to destroy field one, killing all the kangaroos! You decide to instead bring all 100 kangaroos over to field two and introduce them there.  

Assume that  ?(alpha) = .5 for Kangaroos, and ?(beta) = 1 for wallabies.

With all this information, what do you expect would (eventually) happen in this population given infinite time?

You would expect to see roughly 100 wallabies and 50 kangaroos.

You would expect kangaroos to go extinct and to see 150 wallabies.

You would expect wallabies to go extinct and to see 100 kangaroos.

You would expect to see roughly 25 wallabies and 125 kangaroos.

You would expect one of the two species to eventually go extinct but it isn't possible to predict which without more information.

You would expect to see roughly 100 wallabies and 50 kangaroos.

You would expect kangaroos to go extinct and to see 150 wallabies.

You would expect wallabies to go extinct and to see 100 kangaroos.

You would expect to see roughly 25 wallabies and 125 kangaroos.

You would expect one of the two species to eventually go extinct but it isn't possible to predict which without more information.

Explanation / Answer

As is seen in this problem, two species kangaroos and wallabies are living in a habitat which is identical in case of both the species. According to Gause' principle, if both the species have completely identical ecological necessities, then thay cannot coexist in a particular place indefinitely. But in this case, kangaroos feed on long grasses while wallabies feed on small grasses. As the two species do not have identical food requirements, so neither of them will go extinct. Therefore, 2nd, 3rd and 5th options cannot be the answers.

Again from the problem, we come to know that carrying capacity of the environment is greater for wallabies than for kangaroos as wallabies are smaller in size, so they need less grass. Also if we consider the factor for species interaction, it is seen that wallabies are more efficient in snatching away food from the kangaroos (beta is larger than alpha). Therefore, it is expected that over time both the species will coexist but wallabies will outcompete kangaroos in the interspecific interaction between two species. So, out of 1st and 4th options, option 1 is the answer.

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