Question

A population of hummingbirds feeds exclusively on nectar from orchids. Two species of orchids exist in the hummingbirds' habitat. One orchid species has long tubes to store nectar while the other has short tubes to store nectar. The hummingbirds have a range of beak lengths, and the beak length determines which nectar tube an individual can feed from. This population of hummingbirds is splitting into two phenotypic groups. What scenario best explains why the population is diverging?

Answer 1

Answer: D. Hummingbirds with shorter or longer beaks can feed from one of the available orchids, but hummingbirds with intermediate beak lengths cannot feed from either is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

D seems the most likely to be correct as intermediate by definition can either mean in between 2 things but it can also in this case mean a size between long and short, which a medium sized beak might not be long enough to help a hummingbird feed from a longer orchid and all of them should be able to feed from the shorter orchid and mating should have nothing to do with it as the 2 species it refers are the orchid not the hummingbird.