Question

water deep in the soil. indian mallow also has a taproot, but it only reaches to an intermediate depth, where moisture is available during the early part of the growing season. bristly foxtail has shallow, dense roots to quickly absorb water near the soils surface. which of the following concepts is best illustrated by the plants roots described above? choose 1 answer: a competitive exclusion principle b intraspecific competition c interspecific competition d resource partitioning

Explanation:

The plants have different root - depth strategies to access water at different soil levels. This shows resource partitioning, where species divide resources (here, water in different soil layers) to reduce competition. Competitive exclusion is about one species out - competing another to the point of elimination. Intraspecific competition is within the same species, and interspecific competition is between different species, but the focus here is on how they divide the resource rather than compete directly.

Answer:

D. resource partitioning