Chapter 41, Problem 6TYU

SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

An ecologist studying plants in the desert per1ormed the following experiment. She staked out two identical plots, containing sagebrush plants and small annual wildflowers. She found the same five wildflower species in roughly equal numbers on both plots. She then enclosed one of the plots with a fence to keep out kangaroo rats, the most common grain-eaters of the area. After two years four of the wildflower species were no longer present in the fenced plot but one species had increased drastically. The control plot had not changed in species diversity. Using the principles of community ecology, propose a hypothesis to explain her results. What additional evidence would support your hypothesis?