When beetles were introduced as predators to the Leopard frog tadpoles, and the pesticide Malathion was added, the results were unexpected – see the red box. Which of the following is a possible hypothesis to explain these results?

Question

(1 point)
Responses

The Malathion killed the tadpoles, so the beetles had more food and their population increased.
The Malathion killed the tadpoles, so the beetles had more food and their population increased.

The Malathion killed the beetles, causing the tadpole population to prey on each other.
The Malathion killed the beetles, causing the tadpole population to prey on each other.

The Malathion killed the tadpoles, causing the beetles to be hungrier and eat more tadpoles.
The Malathion killed the tadpoles, causing the beetles to be hungrier and eat more tadpoles.

The Malathion killed the beetles, causing fewer tadpoles to be eaten, so the tadpole population grew.

Answer 1

Based on the provided responses and the context of your question, the most plausible hypothesis to explain the unexpected results when beetles were introduced as predators to Leopard frog tadpoles and Malathion was applied is:

The Malathion killed the beetles, causing fewer tadpoles to be eaten, so the tadpole population grew.

This hypothesis suggests that the pesticide affected the predator population (the beetles), leading to a decrease in predation pressure on the tadpoles, which in turn allowed their population to increase.