Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg.If they laid too many eggs in a host egg, the developing wasp larvae would compete with each other to the death for nutrients and space.If too few eggs were laid, portions of the host egg would decay, killing the wasp larvae.
Which of the following conclusions can properly be drawn from the information above?
Parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg. If they laid too many eggs in a host egg, the developing wasp larvae would compete with each other to the death for nutrients and space. If too few eggs were laid, portions of the host egg would decay, killing the wasp larvae.
Which of the following conclusions can properly be drawn from the information above?
(A) The size of the smallest host egg that a wasp could theoretically parasitize can be determined from the wasp's egg-laying behavior. (B) Host insects lack any effective defenses against the form of predation practiced by parasitic wasps. (C) Parasitic wasps learn from experience how many eggs to lay into the eggs of different host species. (D) Failure to lay enough eggs would lead to the death of the developing wasp larvae more quickly than would laying too many eggs. (E) Parasitic wasps use visual clues to calculate the size of a host egg. 答案是A . 我的疑问是题目中是说Parasitic wasps下蛋的数量要依据host egg的大小来定,下多下少都得死。可是A选项的意思是说host egg的大小是由wasp的下蛋行为来决定,这不是是因果倒置吗? 我选的是C, 为什么C不对呢?
A is the correct answer. The stimulus says "arasitic wasps lay their eggs directly into the eggs of various host insects in exactly the right numbers for any suitable size of host egg." If so, the wasp can adjust the number of eggs laid according to the size of the host egg. So you simply sit next to the host eggs and count how many eggs the parasitic wasp lays. Make a chart and compare. The host eggs receiving the lowest amount of parasit eggs would be the smallest host egg.