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Eastern tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) living on desolate islands off mainland Australia have longer jaws than the mainland populations of snakes - VCE - SSCE Biology - Question 5 - 2007 - Paper 1
Question 5
Eastern tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) living on desolate islands off mainland Australia have longer jaws than the mainland populations of snakes. The diet of isla... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Eastern tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) living on desolate islands off mainland Australia have longer jaws than the mainland populations of snakes - VCE - SSCE Biology - Question 5 - 2007 - Paper 1
Step 1
What were the researchers investigating in these experiments?
Answer
The researchers were investigating how different types of prey affect the jaw length of eastern tiger snakes. Specifically, they aimed to understand whether the type of prey available to snake populations living in different environments resulted in differences in jaw size at maturity.
Step 2
Step 3
What evidence from the results suggests that the size of eastern tiger snakes’ jaws is
Answer
i. a genetically inherited trait The similarity in jaw length at birth among the snakes indicates that jaw size is a genetically inherited trait as the differences observed later can be attributed to environmental factors.
ii. affected by environmental factors? The evidence that group A and group B snakes had longer jaws when fed larger prey (large mice) suggests that their environment and diet can directly influence their growth and development.