ESSAY 2002
The activities of organisms change at regular time intervals. These changes are called biological rhythms. The graph depicts the activity cycle over a 48-hour period for a fictional group of mammals called pointy-eared bombats, found on an isolated island in the temperate zone.
Describe the cycle of activity for the bombats. Discuss how three of the following factors might affect the physiology and/or behavior of the bombats to result in this pattern of activity.
temperature
food availability
presence of predators
social behavior
Propose a hypothesis regarding the effect of light on the cycle of activity in bombats. Describe a controlled experiment that could be performed to test this hypothesis, and the results you would expect.