Question

from adventures among ants. weaver ant nests are most common in the outer, often uppermost, sunlit branches of trees. the site of energy influx and photosynthesis, this shell of greenery is where most biological action in forests takes place and thus where the majority of resources sought by the ants accumulate. there the ants bind adjacent living leaves into a kind of arboreal tent. ranging from the size of a baseball to the size of a volleyball but weighing not much more than an inflated balloon, the nests look frail, but they shelter the ants from wind, rain, and rivals. transpiration from their leaf walls creates a built - in hvac system, providing relatively stable temperature and humidity. to begin building a nest a worker pulls at the edge of a leaf, and if shes successful in bending it, nearby ants join her. the workers may stand side by side while gripping the leaf margins, but if the leaves are too far apart, they climb on top of one another and, seizing each other by the waist, form leaf - to - leaf chains that are strong enough to drag the foliage together. within hours, the nearby leaves are drawn tight and aligned in a nest configuration. the name weaver ant comes from the next step, which involves a kind of child labor. in many ant species, the larvae spin silk cocoons in which they transform into adults. but a weaver ant larva does not make a cocoon. instead, it produces silk at a young age, when still small enough to be held and manipulated by an adult worker. after bearing the larva to the construction site, the worker locates a leaf edge through palpations of her antennae, then lowers the larvas head to it. the larva attaches a silk line to the edge, and the worker then shuttles it back and forth between the leaves like a weaver working a loom, until the foliage is bound by woven sheets. as a finishing touch, the nest is detailed with tidy entries and internal walls and galleries. the nests, i suspect, can last for years: when the leaves. this sentence is from the passage: the site of energy influx and photosynthesis, this shell of greenery is where most biological action in forests takes place and thus where the majority of resources sought by the ants accumulate. (paragraph 1) what does the word influx mean as it is used in this sentence? 1. the influence of something very powerful 2. the removal of something from the environment 3. the production of something over a period of time 4. the flowing inward of something in large quantities

Explanation:

The context refers to the site where energy enters the forest ecosystem for photosynthesis. 'Influx' means a large - scale flow into a place. Here, it implies the entry of energy into the greenery shell.

Answer:

1. the flowing inward of something in large quantities