On the Slopes of the Washington Cascades, Ecologists Have Studied

question 112

Multiple Choice

On the slopes of the Washington Cascades, ecologists have studied some closely related vole species for decades. Many of these vole species, when they occur on separate mountains, tend to choose very similar food sizes. However, when these species occur together on the same mountain slope, their food choices tend to differ, with some species selecting small seeds and others feeding exclusively on larger seeds. This behavior may be an example of:

• A)niche fragmentation.
• B)resource partitioning.
• C)habitat fragmentation.
• D)intraspecific competition.
• E)intraspecific range diversion.

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Definitions:

Neural Messages

Electrical and chemical signals that are transmitted by neurons to send information throughout the nervous system.

Optic Nerve

A cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain.

Light Rays

Streams of photons that move in a straight line and are responsible for allowing the human eye to see and perceive the world around.

Encoding

The initial process of transforming information into a form that can be stored in memory.