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)
• resource partitioning.
• genetic drift.
• natural selection.
competitive exclusion.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

This change in the populations is an example of **natural selection.** Natural selection occurs when individuals with traits better suited to their environment (in this case, gray squirrels being better adapted to eat acorns) are more likely to survive and reproduce, leading to a gradual change in the population dynamics.