A drought hits the habitat of a semi-aquatic bird population. All ponds dry up and fish populations decline. There are two groups of birds in the population that differ in leg length and diet. Long-legged birds eat fish while short-legged birds eat insects. The drought has little effect on the insect populations What is the main selective pressure in this scenario?

Question

A drought hits the habitat of a semi-aquatic bird population. All ponds dry up and fish populations decline. There are two groups of birds in the population that differ in leg length and diet. Long-legged birds eat fish while short-legged birds eat insects. The drought has little effect on the insect populations What is the main selective pressure in this scenario?
1. drought
2. leg length
3. insect population
4. fish population

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The main selective pressure in this scenario is 4. fish population.

The drought has led to the drying up of ponds and a decline in fish populations, which directly affects the long-legged birds that rely on fish as their primary food source. Since the short-legged birds, which eat insects, are less affected by this change, the decline in fish availability serves as a selective pressure that may lead to a decrease in the long-legged bird population and possibly an increase in the short-legged bird population over time.