Patricia lives near a small island. A population of tortoises lives on the island with no predators. Some of the tortoises have long necks (L) and some of the tortoises have short necks (S). Patricia wants to know how the numbers of long-necked and short-necked tortoises will change over time. She collects some information.

Question

• All female long-necked tortoises are able to lay eggs.

• Only half of female short-necked tortoises are able to lay eggs.

• In year 1 of the study, there are twice as many short-necked tortoises as long-necked tortoises. (S = 2L)

Part A

Patricia predicts the conditions on the island will stay the same.

What equation will most likely describe the tortoise population in year 2?

A. S=L

B. S = 2L

C. S = 4L

Part B

What statement about the tortoise population does the correct answer from Part A best support?

A. The numbers of long-necked and short-necked tortoises are stable.

B. There will always be fewer long-necked tortoises than short-necked tortoises.

C. The long-necked tortoises have a survival advantage over the short-necked tortoises.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

**Part Given that in year 1, the population of short-necked tortoises (S) is twice that of long-necked tortoises (L), we can express this as: $$ S = 2L $$ Patricia predicts that the conditions on the island will remain the same, meaning that the population structure will not change. Therefore, in year 2, the relationship between the populations will remain the same, leading us to the conclusion that: **The best equation to describe the tortoise population in year 2 is:** **B. S = 2L** --- **Part B** The correct answer from Part A is B, which states that S = 2L. This indicates that the ratio of short-necked tortoises to long-necked tortoises remains constant over time. Given this, the statement that best supports this equation is: **A. The numbers of long-necked and short-necked tortoises are stable.** This is because the ratio does not change, indicating a stable population structure where the relative proportions of short-necked to long-necked tortoises will remain the same.