1) A single weasel is kept in a large wooded enclosure, where it has access to a
ID: 255964 • Letter: 1
Question
1) A single weasel is kept in a large wooded enclosure, where it has access to a variety of naturally available prey. (Weasels are generalist predators.) Each week, a different number of red-backed voles is released into the enclosure. The number of voles killed and eaten per week is recorded. Below are the data (also available in an Excel file in the Laboratory and Homework folder on Blackboard). You may want to view the data graphically # voles killed by the weasel per week # of Voles introduced 10 15 20 30 40 50 70 100 13 16 18 18 18 QUESTIONS a) What would you call the kind of relationship represented by the two variables analyzed in this experiment? b) Assuming that the data above are representative of what happens in the wild, and assuming that weasel populations are limited only by the abundance of prey, what is the likelihood that weasels will eat red-backed voles to extinction? Explain brieflyExplanation / Answer
a) The relationship described here is Predation. Predation can be described as interaction where Predator feeds on its Prey; here, only one of the organisms get benifited.
b) Assuming that the data is an exact representation of wild, it is unlikely that Weasels will eat red-backed voles to extinction. The key here is that the population of weasels is limited by the existance of its prey which goes without saying that as population of red-backed voles goes down, the number of weasels also goes down. Therefore, Weasels causing extinction is unlikely.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.