A stonefly is an aquatic insect that has an incomplete life cycle. It spends its growing period (nymph life stage) on the bottom of streams, camouflaged by the rocky bottom. When it has finished growing, it crawls to the edges of streambeds to molt and emerges as a winged adult. Fish often eat the juvenile nymphs as they make their way to the edge of the streambeds. Suppose that scientists who study predator-prey relationships notice that over a 50-year span, new color patterns evolve in the stonefly nymphs. What would be a logical and reasonable question that the scientists could investigate in relation to their observations and their knowledge of predator-prey relationships

Question

Biology

Jolie Colon

16 September, 14:05

A stonefly is an aquatic insect that has an incomplete life cycle. It spends its growing period (nymph life stage) on the bottom of streams, camouflaged by the rocky bottom. When it has finished growing, it crawls to the edges of streambeds to molt and emerges as a winged adult. Fish often eat the juvenile nymphs as they make their way to the edge of the streambeds. Suppose that scientists who study predator-prey relationships notice that over a 50-year span, new color patterns evolve in the stonefly nymphs. What would be a logical and reasonable question that the scientists could investigate in relation to their observations and their knowledge of predator-prey relationships

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Answers (1)

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Gracelyn Mason · Answer 1

Answer: As the color pattern changes in nymphs developed, was there also a change in the color of the streambeds on which the nymphs molted?

Explanation:

Camouflage is an adaptive measure by animals to escape preys. If the nymphs are hunted easily by fishes, it means that their colour is obviously different from the colour streambeds thus they are easily spotting by the fishes.

An adaptation measure in this situation will be to change their colour to the prevailing colours to the colours of the streambed.