These two figures show the relationship between the preference of two different oxpecker species for mammal species vs the tick abundance on different mammal species. The researchers controlled for the thickness of mammal hides. The researchers concluded that these relationships support the hypothesis that oxpeckers are mutualistic and not parasites. Select all the answers that might be a reason why they reached this conclusion. Group of answer choices A. These data show their is a positive relationship between oxpecker fitness and the fitness of mammal species. B. These data show that fitness of oxpeckers increases on mammal species with higher abundance of ticks C. The researchers hypothesized that if oxpeckers are parasitic and not mutualistic, they would expect that there would be no relationship between the preference of oxpeckers for a mammal species and the abundance of ticks on those species. These graphs show a positive relationship between those variables suggesting oxpeckers prefer mammal species where there is the greatest abundance of "food", not necessarily the mammal species that are easiest or most nutritious to parasitize. D. The data show that oxpeckers reduced tick loads the most on animal species with the highest tick load, showing that oxpeckers eat a greater proportion of ticks on species where ticks are more abundant.
These two figures show the relationship between the preference of two different oxpecker species for mammal species vs the tick abundance on different mammal species. The researchers controlled for the thickness of mammal hides. The researchers concluded that these relationships support the hypothesis that oxpeckers are mutualistic and not parasites. Select all the answers that might be a reason why they reached this conclusion.
A. These data show their is a positive relationship between oxpecker fitness and the fitness of mammal species.
B. These data show that fitness of oxpeckers increases on mammal species with higher abundance of ticks
C. The researchers hypothesized that if oxpeckers are
D. The data show that oxpeckers reduced tick loads the most on animal species with the highest tick load, showing that oxpeckers eat a greater proportion of ticks on species where ticks are more abundant.
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