Question

in the 1800s, the forests of eastern north america were dominated by american chestnut trees. american chestnut trees have nutrient - rich leaves that decay quickly on the forest floor, creating rich soil. in 1904, a fungus arrived in new york on japanese chestnut trees imported by ship. the japanese chestnut trees were resistant to the fungus, but as the fungus spread, it killed almost all the american chestnut trees. today, the forests of eastern north america are dominated by oak trees. oak trees are the preferred food of another introduced species, the spongy moth. the effects of the spongy moth, along with other changes to forest ecosystems, have resulted in the decline of oak trees. in an effort to restore american chestnut trees to forests, scientists have created genetically modified american chestnut trees by incorporating a gene from wheat into the trees genome. the gene allows the trees to resist the fungus by breaking down a toxin produced by the fungus. scientists hope that the genetically modified trees will breed with the remaining american chestnut trees, creating offspring that can resist the fungus. scientists discovered that trees and fungi can share nutrients with each other and that more nutrients can be directed to the trees that need them most. how does it most likely benefit individual american chestnut trees to share nutrients with each other? a. it allows oak trees to compete with american chestnut trees. b. it increases the diversity of consumers of american chestnut trees. c. it prevents american chestnut trees from becoming infected by invasive fungi. d. it ensures that there are more healthy american chestnut trees available for reproduction.

Explanation:

The passage mentions that American chestnut trees in the 1800s had nutrient - rich leaves that decay and scientists discovered trees can share nutrients. This implies that individual American chestnut trees can share nutrients with each other. Option a is about competition with oak trees, option b is about consumer diversity, and option c is about prevention from invasive fungi. Only option d addresses the sharing of nutrients among American chestnut trees.

Answer:

d. It allows American chestnut trees to share nutrients with each other.