The Original Colonizing Organisms in Hawaii Came from Other Localities

question 58

Multiple Choice

The original colonizing organisms in Hawaii came from other localities but currently show relatively little resemblance to these ancestors; why are the organisms that now live on Hawaii so different?

• A) Hawaii is a relatively young landmass, so evolution continues there, although it has ceased in most other places on Earth.
• B) The organisms that live on Hawaii do not have predators, which allows them to evolve into a greater variety of life forms.
• C) Through time, random evolutionary change led to speciation and produced the unique Hawaiian organisms observed today.
• D) Community interactions are the most influential force in the evolution of organisms; the communities on Hawaii were different from those of the initial colonists.

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Definitions:

Stepwise Regression

A procedure in regression analysis that automatically chooses the variables to be used for prediction.

Forward Selection

A stepwise regression approach where variables are sequentially added to the linear model based on their statistical significance in explaining the outcome variable.

Backward Elimination

A method in statistical model building where all variables are included at the start and then removed one by one based on some criteria.

F Statistic

A ratio used in ANOVA tests to determine if the variances between means of several groups are significantly different.