You are characterizing groups of guppies. You have found that guppies that live in environments with cichlids, large fish that are natural predators of guppies, are much smaller and less colorful than guppies that live in bodies of water with few predators. You make the statement "Drab color helps guppies hide from their predators.". This statement is an example of: a hypothesis. a controlled experiment. comparative analysis. a theory.
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" is a hypothesis because it is a proposed explanation based on observations and evidence. In this case, the observation is that guppies in environments with predators are smaller and less colorful, which leads to the hypothesis that their drab coloration helps Show more…
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Guppies are small fish found in streams in Venezuela. Male guppies are brightly colored, with black, red, blue, and iridescent (reflective) spots. Males cannot be too brightly colored or they will be seen and consumed by predators, but if they are too plain, females will choose other males. Natural selection and sexual selection push in opposite directions. When a guppy population lives in a stream in the absence of predators, the proportion of males that are bright and flashy increases in the population. If a few aggressive predators are added to the same stream, the proportion of brightly colored males decreases within about five months (3-4 generations). The effects of predators on guppy coloration have been studied in artificial ponds with mild, aggressive, and no predators, and by similar manipulations of natural stream environments. Where did the variation in spot colors and patterns in guppy populations come from? A. Guppies needed particular spots to survive and reproduce. B. The guppies wanted to change their spots so beneficial new traits gradually appeared in their offspring generation after generation. C. Random genetic changes and sexual recombination continually create new types and patterns of spots. D. Genetic changes for spots in different stream environments are caused by the stream environments themselves.
Suman K.
Sri K.
Guppies exhibit sexual dimorphism in some pools due to intersexual selection, but the frequency of brightly colored males in a population varies depending on environmental factors such as the presence or absence of predators in the pool. Which of the following would you expect to occur in a captive population of guppies collected from Trinidad if you allowed them to breed for many generations in an aquarium WITHOUT predators? Female guppies will become more brightly colored. Male guppies that are brightly colored will have better reproductive success than dull males. The number of dull-colored male guppies will eventually equal the number of brightly colored males. Female guppies will prefer to mate with the dull-colored males.
Sukhwinder N.
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