Many species of animals on islands are larger than related species on the mainland. Scientists hypothesize that this phenomenon, called island gigantism, evolved in response to the scarcity of competitors and predators on islands. Reduced competition and predation allows species to exploit more resources and frees them from the need to hide in small refuges. Which of the following might be a trade-off of gigantism experienced by giant island tortoises? a. They cool very rapidly during cold weather. b. It would be difficult to sustain their high mass-specific metabolic rates on a diet of plants alone. c. It could be more difficult to avoid thermally unfavorable conditions. d. They could hide from nonnative predators more easily.

Video transcript

Hello, everyone. Here we go. Question telling us. The coffee bar a is the largest living rodent and a member of the genus hydro flores, gigantism, such as in the cafe bar results in one lineage evolved extremely large bodies from its small body ancestors and a specific confined niche. What will be the consequences of gigantism like that of the Capybara and the rodent population? So gigantism, like seeing in the Capybara results in a decrease in the population density. And it does this because there's more fierce competition over resources, so there's less resources available for all the Capybaras. So our answer here is a it can decrease the population density. Thank you for watching. Bye!