Question

Termites eat wood, but many do not produce enzymes themselves that will digest the cellulose in the wood. Instead, some termites house a complex community of protozoa, bacteria, and archaea that could help digest the cellulose. Imagine an experiment that fed termites either wood only or wood and antibiotics, and then measured the amount of energy extracted from the wood. If both groups gained equal amounts of energy, which of the conclusions is the most logical?

A) We would conclude that the protozoa contributed to digestion of cellulose and lignin.
B) We would conclude that the archaea contributed to digestion of cellulose and lignin.
C) We would conclude that the bacteria did not contribute to digestion of cellulose and lignin. D) We would conclude that none of the three groups were needed to digest cellulose and lignin.

Answer 1

C) We would conclude that the bacteria did not contribute to digestion of cellulose and lignin

Step-by-step explanation:

After feeding a group with wood only and another group with wood and antibiotics.

The most logical conclusion to explain how both groups gained equal amounts of energy is to conclude that the bacteria did not contribute to digestion of cellulose and lignin

Answer 2

C: We would conclude that the bacteria did not contribute to digestion of cellulose and lignin.

Step-by-step explanation:

Antibiotics are natural or synthetic chemical substances that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria.

Thus, the inclusion of antibiotics in addition to the wood meal in one of the termites group will kill off or inactivate (all other things being equal) the bacteria in their digestive tracts, leaving only the protozoa and archea community.

Even in the absence of bacteria, the two groups of termites still gained equal amount of energy. This simply means that the presence or absence of bacteria was inconsequential in the process of energy extraction from wood. We are left with the protozoa and archea community. There is nothing else to indicate whether the protozoa and or the archea group contributed to digestion of cellulose and ligin.

Hence, the only fact we are sure of is that the absence of bacteria did not affect energy extraction from wood. The most logical conclusion is that the bacteria did not contribute to digestion of cellulose and lignin.