Question: You Want to Perform a Field Experiment to Determine

Essay

Question: You want to perform a field experiment to determine whether green frog and bullfrog tadpoles that were laid as eggs in the same pond will coexist or one species will drive the other to extinction. You determine that a bullfrog tadpole consumes 5 times more algae than a green frog tadpole. You then determine the carrying capacity of the pond for each species based on intraspecific competition of both species: the carrying capacity for bullfrog tadpoles is 100 individuals, and the carrying capacity for green frog tadpoles is 150 individuals. You take a census of the pond and find that there are 50 bullfrog tadpoles and 200 green frog tadpoles living in the pond. Based on this information and assuming that no factors other than competition influence these populations, how will they affect each other? Will the two species coexist, or will one of these species drive the other to extinction? Explain your answer.