Chapter 51, Problem 12
The carnivorous plant Nepenthes bicalcarata ('fanged pitcher plant') has a unique relationship with a species of ant—Camponotus schmitzi ('diving ant'). The diving ants are not digested by the pitcher plants, but instead live on the plants and consume nectar. Diving ants also dive into the digestive juices in the pitcher, swim to the bottom, and capture and consume trapped insects, leaving uneaten body parts and ant feces behind. What nutritional impact do the ants have on fanged pitcher plants? Do the pitcher plants derive any nutritional benefit from this relationship? Researchers tested the hypothesis that the relationship between diving ants and pitcher plants is mutualistic (i.e., both species derive a nutritional benefit). To do so, they compared leaf surface area (as a measure of overall growth) in two sets of pitcher plants: plants with diving ants and plants without. The results are shown in the graph. The P values indicate whether there is a significant relationship between the size of the host plants and the surface area of the host plants' leaves. Based on this graph, what conclusions can be drawn about the impact of diving ants on overall plant growth?
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The carnivorous plant Nepenthes bicalcarata ('fanged pitcher plant') has a unique relationship with a species of ant—Camponotus schmitzi ('diving ant'). The diving ants are not digested by the pitcher plants, but instead live on the plants and consume nectar. Diving ants also dive into the digestive juices in the pitcher, swim to the bottom, and capture and consume trapped insects, leaving uneaten body parts and ant feces behind. What nutritional impact do the ants have on fanged pitcher plants? Do the pitcher plants derive any nutritional benefit from this relationship? Based only on the information provided here, make a prediction on the effect of diving ants on overall pitcher plant growth.
Lyme disease is caused by infections of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (stained blue in inset, among red blood cells) which is transferred to humans via blood-sucking bites from the tick, Ixodes scapularis. Lyme disease can cause flu-like symptoms in the short term and more serious illnesses in the long term, if not treated. Why is Lyme disease on the rise in eastern North America? In relation to humans, B. burgdorferi is a/an ____________ and the tick is a/an _____________. a. endoparasite/ectoparasite b. endoparasite/host c. parasitoid/host d. parasite/predator
Lyme disease is caused by infections of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (stained blue in inset, among red blood cells) which is transferred to humans via blood-sucking bites from the tick, Ixodes scapularis. Lyme disease can cause flu-like symptoms in the short term and more serious illnesses in the long term, if not treated. Why is Lyme disease on the rise in eastern North America? Newly hatched ticks do not harbor B. burgdorferi. Rather, they pick it up from certain hosts that are reservoirs of the bacterium. When a larval tick crawls onto a host, it may get groomed off and killed by the host, or it may feed successfully, in which case it may or may not then become infected with B. burgdorferi. Felicia Keesing and others measured the rate of tick feeding and infection on different hosts. What percentage of ticks on mice were infected with B. burgdorferi? What percentage of ticks on opossums were groomed off and killed?
A team of 102 scientists spent a year surveying a small area of the San Lorenzo rain forest in Panama to count the number of species of arthropods living there. After collecting 129,494 specimens—using nets, traps, shovels, tree-climbing harnesses, helium balloons, and other creative gear—it took the team eight years to sort and identify the arthropods. Rather than measuring the entire 6000-hectare (ha) forest, the researchers sampled arthropod diversity by intensively collecting as many arthropods as they could in 12 plots that measured 20 m×20 m square. If 1 ha=10,000 m2,, how many hectares of forest did they sample in all? a. 20 m×20 m×12=4800 ha b. 4800 m2×10,000 m2/1 ha=48,000,000 ha c. 20 m×20 m=400 ha d. 4800 m^2 x 1ha/10,000 m^2 = 0.48 ha
A team of 102 scientists spent a year surveying a small area of the San Lorenzo rain forest in Panama to count the number of species of arthropods living there. After collecting 129,494 specimens—using nets, traps, shovels, tree-climbing harnesses, helium balloons, and other creative gear—it took the team eight years to sort and identify the arthropods. The graph below shows some of the data for the major arthropod groups collected. Notice that the scale on the y axis is logarithmic to make both small and large numbers legible on the same graph. For example, there are about 400 species of spiders, but only 40 species of bees. About how many arthropods were found in total? About what percentage of these were beetles?
The carnivorous plant Nepenthes bicalcarata ('fanged pitcher plant') has a unique relationship with a species of ant—Camponotus schmitzi ('diving ant'). The diving ants are not digested by the pitcher plants, but instead live on the plants and consume nectar. Diving ants also dive into the digestive juices in the pitcher, swim to the bottom, and capture and consume trapped insects, leaving uneaten body parts and ant feces behind. What nutritional impact do the ants have on fanged pitcher plants? Do the pitcher plants derive any nutritional benefit from this relationship? Based on the background information presented here, does the relationship between diving ants and pitcher plants appear to be mutualistic? Explain.