Question

chytridiomycosis infection in a frog population
proportion of population infected
relative population size
years of study
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
— proportion of population infected
--- relative population size
chytridiomycosis is a potentially lethal fungal infection that adversely affects some frog populations. the incidence and severity of the fungal infection can vary over time. which of the following statements best describes the changes in the frog population that are depicted in the model above?
a the fungus that infected the frog population was initially virulent but it later became harmless. based on the trend over the past few years of the study, the fungus has become extinct.
b infected individuals gradually died out, and genetically resistant individuals became more common. the frog population recovered because of the increased frequency of resistant individuals.
c the patterns of the curves on the graph indicate a sudden increase in the severity of the fungal infection. a large proportion of the frog population died because the individuals could not evolve fast enough.
the size of the frog population decreased sharply upon initial contact with the fungus. the fungus eventually became symbiotic with individual frogs, and the frog population began to recover.

Explanation:

Initially, the proportion of infected frogs increases while the population size decreases. Later, the proportion of infected frogs decreases and the population size recovers. This suggests that infected individuals died out and resistant individuals became more common, allowing the population to recover. Option A is incorrect as there's no evidence the fungus became extinct. Option C doesn't match as the population recovers rather than a large - scale die - off due to non - evolution. Option D is wrong because there's no indication of symbiosis.

Answer:

B. Infected individuals gradually died out, and genetically resistant individuals became more common. The frog population recovered because of the increased frequency of resistant individuals.