Question

The wood thrush makes its nest in woodlands in the northern and eastern United States. As patches of woods become smaller, increasing numbers of wood thrush nests have eggs laid in them by the brown-headed cowbird. Cowbirds live in open fields and are nest parasites; the female cowbird flies up to an unattended nest, quickly lays an egg in it, and leaves the host parents to raise their "adopted" young. Wood thrushes are decreasing in numbers because ________.A) habitat fragmentation makes it easier for cowbird parasitism to occurB) cowbirds are an invasive species that is rapidly increasingC) climate change is reducing nest site availabilityD) overharvesting in the open fields has driven the cowbirds into the woodlandsE) pollution of the open fields has caused a change in cowbird behavior

Answer 1

A) habitat fragmentation makes it easier for cowbird parasitism to occur

Step-by-step explanation:

Habitat fragmantation is the separation of a landscape into various land uses (e.g for development, agriculture, etc), resulting in numerous small, disjuunct habitat patches left for use by wildlife.

As the name implies, it describes the emergence of discontinuities(fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat).

Fragmentation eliminates habitat for those species requiring large unbroken blocks of habitat

This disconnection of natural habitat amplifies the negative effects of decreasing total habitat area.

As patches of woods become smaller, increasing numbers of wood thrush nests have eggs laid in them by the brown-headed cowbird. Cowbirds live in open fields and are nest parasites; the female cowbird flies up to an unattended nest, quickly lays an egg in it, and leaves the host parents to raise their "adopted" young. Wood thrushes are decreasing in numbers because habitat fragmentation makes it easier for cowbird parasitism to occur.

Answer 2

A) habitat fragmentation makes it easier for cowbird parasitism to occur

Step-by-step explanation:

It is a situation where by there is transformation of a large habitat into smaller patches with smaller total area secluded from one another by a habitat different from the initial one.

Habitat fragmentation can be caused due geological processes which distort the physical environment. It is also casued by human activities which could lead to loss or extinction of certain species.

Habitat fragmentation could possibly lead to loss of habitat and biodiversity.