Species That Require Large Areas to Survive Are Disappearing as Their

Multiple Choice

Species that require large areas to survive are disappearing as their habitat is destroyed. Researchers have found that increased forest fragmentation is associated with a higher risk of Lyme disease, which is carried by white-footed mice and transmitted from mice to humans by black-legged ticks. The researchers hypothesized that communities with higher biodiversity contain hosts for the Lyme disease bacteria that do not spread the bacteria to humans. Propose an alternative hypothesis that uses energy flows in ecosystems to explain their findings.

A) Smaller forest fragments support fewer trophic levels, and thus are less likely to have predators like coyotes to reduce mouse population size.
B) A greater percentage of energy is lost during each transfer of energy in larger forest fragments than in smaller ones, and decreases the amount of food sources for mouse hosts.
C) Larger forest fragments have faster energy flow, which makes it more difficult for small organisms like bacteria to survive.