So here we have an example problem that asks, which of the following statements explains why tropical communities tend to have more species diversity than communities at higher latitudes? And we've got these 5 statements and the 4 potential answer options down below. Now, statement 1 says tropical communities tend to be larger and therefore have more habitats and resources available. Now this is not something that we've said in our previous lesson videos, and it's simply not true that tropical communities are always larger than communities at higher latitudes. So we can eliminate statement 1 here for that reason.

Now, statement 2 says that there are fewer predators and parasites in tropical regions, allowing more species to thrive. Once again, this is not something that we've said in our previous lesson videos, and it's simply not true that there are fewer predators and parasites in tropical regions. In fact, there are more predators and parasites in tropical regions. And, for that reason, we can eliminate statement number 2. Now moving on, statement number 3 says that tropical communities have been around for longer, allowing more time for evolution and speciation to occur.

Of course, recall from our last lesson video that this statement number 3 is a true statement. And so it is true that tropical communities have not been impacted as much by glaciation events during ice ages, whereas communities at higher latitudes are more impacted by those glaciation events. So the tropical communities, because they weren't impacted as much, were able to remain around for longer periods of time, giving it more time for evolution and speciation, and that helps to explain why there's more species diversity in tropical communities. Now statement number 4 says, tropical regions tend to receive more precipitation and sunlight. And, of course, we know that this is also a true statement, and having more precipitation and sunlight in tropical regions is going to allow for more biological productivity in tropical regions, which can support a greater diversity of species.

So statement number 4 is also a true statement. Now statement 5 says, tropical regions experience fewer disturbances. And this is not something that we've said in our previous lesson videos. In fact, tropical regions can experience a pretty good amount of disturbances as they can get hurricanes, flooding, and fires. And so, also recall that the intermediate disturbance hypothesis tells us that it's actually a moderate or intermediate amount of disturbances that fosters the greatest species diversity.

And so even if it did have fewer disturbances, that would not explain why it has more species diversity. So, for that reason, we can eliminate statement 5. And so notice that the only option that indicates that statements 3 and 4 are the true statements is option c, 3 and 4 only. And so we can go ahead and indicate that answer option c is the correct answer to this example problem, and I'll see you all in our next video.