In a Balanced Ecosystem, All Animals Are Subject to Predators

question 5

Essay

In a balanced ecosystem, all animals are subject to predators. Bees have been observed avoiding flowers where spiders have been present, but it is not known how they detect the spider’s presence. A series of studies involving Italian honeybees and crab spiders was conducted to address this question. One study looked at flowers that had a dead bee on its petals. In a sample of 128 bee flights to flowers with dead bees, 83 resulted in the bee inspecting the flower, and 38 of these inspections resulted in the bee “accepting” the
flower.
-In prior studies with different species of bees, about 70% of flowers containing deadbees had resulted in acceptance of the flower. Based on the given data, is itreasonable to conclude that the proportion of landings of Apis mellifera is differentfrom 0.70?

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Definitions:

Animalia

A kingdom comprising multicellular, eukaryotic organisms that are typically mobile and obtain nutrients by consumption.

Energy Flow

The transfer of energy through a food chain from primary producers to various consumers.

Ecosystems

Communities of living organisms interacting with their physical environment, functioning together as a unit.

Asexually

A mode of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent.