首页
登录
职称英语
As every schoolboy knows, insects pollinate flowers, while birds and mammals
As every schoolboy knows, insects pollinate flowers, while birds and mammals
游客
2024-08-11
37
管理
问题
As every schoolboy knows, insects pollinate flowers, while birds and mammals disperse seeds by eating fruits or transporting burs on their feathers and fur. These are examples of co-evolution, a phenomenon first described by Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871.
Co-evolution, in which two species have evolved together in response to adaptations that each has imposed on the other, can be extremely subtle. For instance, some animals may help to transfer pollen from one plant to another without acting directly as the carrier themselves. Instead, they make it easier for the pollen to be dispersed by other creatures. Mats Olsson and Richard Shine, of the University of Sydney, and Elisabeth Bak-Olsson, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, have discovered, apparently for the first time, such a mutually beneficial arrangement between a reptile and a plant.
For most of the year the Tasmanian snow skink lizard confined to mountain tops in that island is catholic in what it eats. But when the honey-bush is in bloom, the skinks make a point of tearing off the tough, red petals that enclose the rest of the flower. They chew them to extract the nectar and spit out what is left. At first sight, this skink-savaging may not seem all that helpful to the honey-bush. But it is. It exposes the reproductive parts of the flowers, thereby allowing pollinating insects to get at them. Dr. Olsson and his colleagues found that flowers with the petals left intact never produced seed. But, according to their paper in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 87% of flowers with the petals torn off did so.
To check that it was the skinks alone that were the plants’ little helpers, the researchers placed cages around some honey-bushes. Virtually all of the petals were removed from the flowers on bushes without cages. Only 16% of the caged bushes had their petals ripped off, possibly by high winds battering them.
Dr. Olsson found no evidence of pollen being carried on a skink and so concluded that the lizards play no role in transporting honey-bush pollen from one flower to another. But he did see a range of insects: wasps, flies, bumble-bees and others feeding from honey-bush flowers that had no petals covering them. Without the petals removed, it was impossible for insects to do any pollinating.
Question 71 to 75
Complete the summary below with information from the passage, using three words or fewer for each blank.
Co-evolution is【R1】______described by Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man. In the process of co-evolution, two species may have to respond to adaptations they have imposed on each other.
For example, some animals may not carry【R2】______from one plant to another. They may help by making it easier for other creatures to disperse the pollen from one plant to another. Such an arrangement seems【R3】______to both species. In Tasmania, the skink lizards chew the red petals of【R4】______and spit out what is left. In doing so, they expose the reproductive parts of the flower and enable pollinating insects to reach them. It was discovered that 87% of these flowers produced seeds. Conversely, flowers with petals remaining【R5】______never did. [br] 【R1】
选项
答案
a phenomenon
解析
(由原文These are examples of co—evolution,a phenomenon first described by Charles Darwin可知答案。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3715268.html
相关试题推荐
Aseveryschoolboyknows,insectspollinateflowers,whilebirdsandmammals
Aseveryschoolboyknows,insectspollinateflowers,whilebirdsandmammals
Aseveryschoolboyknows,insectspollinateflowers,whilebirdsandmammals
Aseveryschoolboyknows,insectspollinateflowers,whilebirdsandmammals
TheChinesegardenismorethanjustflowers,rocksandpavilions.Itstandsas
Applesinthesupermarketaresoldby________weight,andflowerscanbesoldby_
Insectsentombedinfossilisedamberfortensofmillionsofyearshaveprov
Insectsentombedinfossilisedamberfortensofmillionsofyearshaveprov
Insectsentombedinfossilisedamberfortensofmillionsofyearshaveprov
Identicaltwins:Twoofthesevasesofflowersareidentical.Canyouspotwhich
随机试题
公共产品和服务需求的快速增长与提供这些产品和服务的缓慢发展是需要引起严重关注的问题之一。Therapidgrowthofthedemandofpu
Accordingtoarecentstudy,theideaofagingmightlookdifferentthrought
学校管理过程是指学校管理者根据教育与管理规律,组织和指导学校内部成员,为达到学校
以下属于证券投资顾问的禁止性行为的是()。 Ⅰ.接受客户的全权委托,接受未经
浅表淋巴结检查方法
下列关于目标客户管理门店店内集中管理方式的表述,正确的是()。A.易漏失客户
运用说服教育法的基本要求有() A.明确目的性和针对性B.富有知识性
夫妇王某(明)、张某(女)生一女孩,在办理了出生证明和计划生育服务手册新生儿落户
尝试一错误学习理论的基本学习规律有效果律、()和()。
患者,男,24岁,右下第一、二磨牙间牙龈肿痛一周,检查未见其他部位牙龈色、形、质
最新回复
(
0
)