Question

use the information to answer the question.
wildlife biologists are seeking to improve the biodiversity of the reserves in their areas wildlife refuge system. they want to know why some reserves have high species diversity while others have low species diversity. the reserves are isolated land surrounded by farms. one of the biologists, realizing that the reserves are isolated like islands, finds a graph made by biologists studying species diversity on oceanic islands. the graph shows the number of species present on an island compared with the land area of individual islands.

island biodiversity vs.
land area
graph with number of coexisting species on y - axis and area (km²) on x - axis, showing a curve with red dots

which three insights does the graph give that can help the wildlife biologists?
□ a. small reserves are less able to preserve species diversity than larger ones.
□ b. having reserves of many different sizes will preserve the most species diversity.
□ c. multiple small reserves should preserve species diversity as well as one large reserve.
□ d. adding more land to the largest reserve will have only a small effect on species diversity.
□ e. the amount of land area has a bigger effect on the species diversity of small reserves than large ones.

Explanation:

1. For option A: The graph shows that smaller areas have far fewer species, so small reserves support less diversity than large ones.
2. For option D: The curve flattens at large areas, meaning adding more land to large reserves gives only a small increase in species.
3. For option E: The steep slope at small areas means area changes have a bigger impact on small reserves' diversity, while the flat slope for large areas shows smaller impact there.

Options B and C are not supported: the graph does not compare mixed-size reserves vs single reserves, and it does not show multiple small reserves equal a large one.

Answer:

A. Small reserves are less able to preserve species diversity than larger ones.
D. Adding more land to the largest reserve will have only a small effect on species diversity.
E. The amount of land area has a bigger effect on the species diversity of small reserves than large ones.