Nhận biết (M1)

The bird species Bucco capensis (the collared puffbird), which weighs about 53 grams, and Deconychura longicauda (the long-tailed woodcreeper), which weighs about 25 grams, share territory in French Guiana. Since there is thought to be an inverse relationship between avian body size and vulnerability to predation, biologist Ari Martínez and colleagues, who studied the ecological community the species share, hypothesized that there will also be an inverse relationship between body size and propensity to associate with other species, as doing so may aid in predator detection.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Martínez and colleagues' hypothesis?

• A.

  Martínez and colleagues observed several species approximately the same size as D. longicauda, but only D. longicauda regularly flocked with birds of other species.

• B.

  Martínez and colleagues occasionally observed D. longicauda flocking with other species but not as frequently as they observed B. capensis doing so.

• C.

  Martínez and colleagues observed that D. longicauda individuals were less likely to be preyed on when in multispecies or single-species flocks than when alone.

• D.

  Martínez and colleagues always observed B. capensis alone or in single-species flocks but frequently observed D. longicauda in multispecies flocks.