The Following Questions Refer to the Description Below

question 25

Multiple Choice

The following questions refer to the description below.
You have read that soapberry bugs, Jadera haematoloma, adapt to available food sources. For example, in southern Florida, soapberry bugs feed on seeds of a native plant, the balloon vine. In central Florida, the balloon vine is rare and soapberry bugs have switched to eating seeds of an introduced species, the goldenrain tree. The seeds of the goldenrain tree fruits are much closer to the fruit surface than the seeds of the native balloon vine fruit. As a result, natural selection results in beaks that are shorter in soapberry bugs that utilize goldenrain tree fruits than those that feed on balloon vine fruit seeds.
-A conservation organization has been trying to eliminate introduced species and encourage the growth/spread of native species. After several years, the balloon vine has almost totally replaced the goldenrain tree in the experimental plot. Based on your knowledge of evolution, which of the following outcomes would appear to be the most logical?

• A)Half of the soapberry bugs will die.
• B)To save soapberry bugs with short beaks, the researchers must relocate them to a different plot.
• C)Intermediate beak length will be favoured just in case the introduced goldenrain tree makes a comeback.
• D)The genes for short beaks will be lost.
• E)Variation in beak size will remain present in the soapberry bug population, but natural selection will favour beak lengths that are best adapted to the current food source.

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