Gray and red squirrels share the same habitat. Red squirrels usually eat hazelnuts. After a disease kills off hazelnut trees in their environment, they have to start eating acorns. Gray squirrels are well adapted to eating acorns. The number of red squirrels decreased over time because they were not well adapated to eating acorns. Gray squirrels gradually replaced the red squirrels because they are better adapted to the environment. This change in the populations is an example of(1 point)

Question

Gray and red squirrels share the same habitat. Red squirrels usually eat hazelnuts. After a disease kills off hazelnut trees in their environment, they have to start eating acorns. Gray squirrels are well adapted to eating acorns. The number of red squirrels decreased over time because they were not well adapated to eating acorns. Gray squirrels gradually replaced the red squirrels because they are better adapted to the environment. This change in the populations is an example of(1 point)
Responses

competitive exclusion.
competitive exclusion.

resource partitioning.
resource partitioning.

natural selection.
natural selection.

genetic drift.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

This change in the populations is an example of natural selection.

The red squirrels were not well adapted to the new food source (acorns) after the hazelnut trees were killed off, leading to a decrease in their population. In contrast, the gray squirrels, which were better adapted to eating acorns, were able to thrive and gradually replace the red squirrels. This is a classic case of natural selection where the environment favors one species over another based on their adaptations.