According to the discussion, what will happen if the yucca moth larvae do not get the yucca plant seeds as a source of food?

admin2018-08-16  28

问题
According to the discussion, what will happen if the yucca moth larvae do not get the yucca plant seeds as a source of food?
Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.
Professor: OK. So far we’ve been studying interactions of populations in nature that belong to a category of negative. We’ve discussed predators that feed on their prey, like wolf and rabbit, corn root worms that feed on the corn and so forth.
    This type of relationship is characterized by the fact that one organism actually harms the other. I’ll begin today by introducing some positive interactions. First of all, let’s look at mutualism and the classic mutualistic relationship. A mutualistic relationship is when two organisms of different species "work together," each benefiting from the relationship and not harmful to each other. Some mutualisms are so close that interacting species actually can’t survive without each other. One good example of this is the mutualistic relationship between the yucca plant and yucca moth, which you might have read about in your textbook already. Tom, why is it that yucca plant can’t live without the yucca moth?
Tom: Well, it needs the yucca moth as a pollinator, right? The yucca moth collects and carries the pollen from one flower to another in different areas. The yucca plant will produce seeds that get carried off by the wind and eventually germinate and grow into new plants again.
Professor: Fantastic observation. What’s more, only the yucca moth can pollinate the yucca plant. Most people think of bees when they talk about a pollinator. But even bees can’t pollinate the yucca plant because they can’t move the yucca pollen. Yucca pollen is really heavy and sticky, so it can’t be scattered by wind or by casual contact with other insects. But the yucca moth has special mouthparts that enable it to carry the pollen. Jennifer, why can’t the yucca moth live without the yucca plant?
Jennifer: Well, what the female yucca moth does is lay her eggs at the same time as pollinating the yucca plant. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the yucca plant’s seeds. They can’t eat any other kind of food. In other words, they will die from hunger unless they eat the yucca seeds.
Professor: Very good! So, this is the perfect kind of relationship. The yucca moth pollinates the yucca plant, the yucca plants produce seeds, and in return, the yucca moth gets food for its young from the yucca plant.
Tom: Excuse me, professor. I seem to be missing something here. I mean, I thought you said, in mutualism, neither species is harmed. But the yucca moth larvae eat the yucca plant’s seeds, Doesn’t that mean the yucca moth actually harms the yucca plant?
Professor: That’s a good question, Tom. Actually, it’s not that much of a problem because there’re plenty of seeds for the larvae to eat without harming the yucca plant supply. Also, the yucca moth doesn’t lay too many eggs on one flower. She usually lays about 1 to 3 per flower, so most of the seeds will still be safe when the eggs hatch. But it raises an interesting question. What if a female yucca moth plays unfair? What if she plays an unfair game and lays more eggs on each yucca flower than the usual one to three? The moth would certainly be benefited this way because more offspring could be produced. But it wouldn’t be very good for the plant. Well, one scientist has observed that the yucca plant produces a huge array of flowers and then drops a large number of flowers, including many that have been pollinated and have eggs on them. This dropping of flowers is a matter of pure chance. Uh... you never know which flowers will fall off. So if the yucca moth lays lots of eggs at a few flowers, those eggs may all be dropped, and she might produce no caterpillars at all. But if the yucca moth lays fewer eggs on lots and lots of flowers, there’s a greater chance that more caterpillars will hatch and survive among the flowers that have remained on the plant. According to the observation, perhaps the yucca plant is in a sense forcing the moth to lay eggs thin and wide.

选项 A、The mother moth will move them to another flower that has seeds.
B、They will survive by eating other parts of yucca plant such as flowers and leaves.
C、They will eat other yucca moth larvae.
D、They will starve.

答案D

解析 细节题。线索词为学生所说:In other words,they will die from hunger unless they eat the yucca seeds.本题考点为假设逻辑关系。如果丝兰蛾的幼虫不吃丝兰种子,它们便会饿死。A选项属未提及内容。原文并未讲述母蛾的应急方案,即把幼虫移到另一朵含有种子的花上。此外,结合原文后续内容可总结出:幼虫没有第二次选择花的机会。B选项与原文表述相反。文中明确表明丝兰蛾的幼虫只能吃种子,不能吃其他任何食物。C选项属未提及。原文没有提及“吃同类”这一内容。由此题引出一点建议:注意假设逻辑关系。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/uLhYFFFM
0

最新回复(0)