Please Use the Following Information to Answer the Question(s) Below

question 1

Multiple Choice

Please use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
The effect of invasive species on the diversity of communities can be large, and protecting native communities from the invasion of non-native species is often a priority for conservation. You conduct an experiment to study how the impact that invasive plant species have on the diversity of plant communities varies as a function of distance from the source of the invasive species. In this experiment, you create five communities with equal numbers of three native plant species at the beginning. Each of these communities is located at increasing distances from a large patch of an invasive species. You and your research assistant return 1 year later to measure the relative abundance of each species. The results are shown in the table.
Relative Abundance
-The biological hypothesis for your experiment is based on the model of island biogeography. What is the independent variable of your experiment?

• A) the plant communities
• B) the source patch of the invasive species
• C) the distance from the source patch of invasive species
• D) the relative abundance of the plant species
• E) the length of time from the start to the end of the experiment