What Is Life? 2nd Edition by Jay Phelan

Exercise 38

Upon hearing the males of a particular bird species calling in their natural environment, you wonder why they call. In order to answer your question, you cage one male bird and record his calling rate under several different conditions: • in the presence of no conspecific (i.e., of the same species) birds.
• in the presence of 10 conspecific males.
• in the presence of 10 conspecific females.
• in the presence of 5 conspecific males and 5 conspecific females. Which of the following null hypotheses could be falsified using this experimental design?
A) Males of the species do not call.
B) Males of the species call more often than do females.
C) Males of the species call at a rate that is independent of the sex composition of the audience.
D) Males of the species call less often than do females.
E) Males of the species call when called to.