Imagine that you are the biologist performing the following…
Imagine that you are the biologist performing the following scientific investigation. Please read the text and the answer the questions that follow. You are studying lizards. This particular species is usually found living about 2 to 5 meters off the ground, in trees. Is resource partitioning taking place in the natural habitat (where other lizard species exist)? Or do they just prefer to eat the species of insects that live at this level? Or do they only climb to a certain height (and eat whatever is available)? You decide to try to answer this question: “Would this species of lizards climb higher if they ate different insects?” In other words, is it the food that affects how high they climb? All of the lizards would be the same species. Each group of lizards would be fed only one (1) type of insect. The insects would be: mosquitoes, mealworms, wax worms, and fruit flies. The lizards would be fed in their housing (in the lab) while they were on the ground. Each lizard “house” would be the same size, same height, and have the same height of tree in it. Which is the dependent variable?