Guppies living in a stream have a variety of spot patterns, some of which provide good camouflage against the stones in the streambed and others of which make them stand out against the background, allowing potential mates to see them more easily. If a predator that hunted by sight were introduced to the stream, what would be the most likely long-term consequence for the guppy population?

A The number of guppies in the population would decline, although most of the remaining ones would be uncamouflaged.

B The guppy population would devise a mutation that allowed the camouflaged guppies to find mates by scent or sound.

C The guppy population would die out since none of the guppies would be able to find mates.

D The number of camouflaged guppies in the population would increase while the number of successful matings decreased.

The number of guppies in the population would decline, although most of the remaining ones would be uncamouflaged would be the most likely long-term consequence for the guppy population.

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schultzc2212 schultzc2212 · Answer 2 · 2019-07-02T03:21:13+02:00

Answer:

D. The number of camouflaged guppies in the population would increase while the number of successful matings decreased.

Explanation:

The predator would eat the uncamouflaged guppies, reducing the number of uncamouflaged guppies. At the same time, the number of camoflouged guppies would increase as a large percentage of the camouflaged guppies that would have mates with the uncamouflaged will instead have offspring with the camouflaged guppies. While the number of camouflaged guppies mating will increase, the total number of successful matings will decrease because a large percent of all matings were with uncamouflaged guppies and now that is being severely cut down since the predator is eating all of them.