Observation: In the wild, prairie deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi, are abundant in open grassy fields and scarce in adjacent forested areas.
This observation leads to the obvious question: Why are prairie deer mice more abundant in grassy fields than in forest?
Below, we propose two different hypotheses, one proximate, and one ultimate. Your job is to propose an alternative to each of these hypotheses (i.e., another hypothesis that is a potentially mutually exclusive alternative to the one we provide), and then to make one prediction that would be true for each of the hypotheses (i.e., a total of 4 predictions, one for each of the hypotheses we propose, and one for each of the alternative hypotheses that you propose).
Hypothesis 1 (our proximate hypothesis): Prairie deermice develop their preference for the grassland habitat over forested habitat through an imprinting-like process.
Hypothesis 1A (your alternate hypothesis to Hypothesis 1): ?
Hypothesis 2 (our ultimate hypothesis): Prairie deermice choose the grassland habitat over forested habitat because their food supply is more abundant in grassland.
Hypothesis 2A (your alternative to hypothesis 2): ?
Predictions are numbered as for the hypotheses (i.e., Prediction 1 goes with Hypothesis 1, Prediction 1A goes with Hypothesis 1A, Prediction 2 goes with Hypothesis 2, and Prediction 2A goes with Hypothesis
2A)
Prediction 1?
Prediction 1A?
Prediction 2?
Prediction 2A?
This observation leads to the obvious question: Why are prairie deer mice more abundant in grassy fields than in forest?
Below, we propose two different hypotheses, one proximate, and one ultimate. Your job is to propose an alternative to each of these hypotheses (i.e., another hypothesis that is a potentially mutually exclusive alternative to the one we provide), and then to make one prediction that would be true for each of the hypotheses (i.e., a total of 4 predictions, one for each of the hypotheses we propose, and one for each of the alternative hypotheses that you propose).
Hypothesis 1 (our proximate hypothesis): Prairie deermice develop their preference for the grassland habitat over forested habitat through an imprinting-like process.
Hypothesis 1A (your alternate hypothesis to Hypothesis 1): ?
Hypothesis 2 (our ultimate hypothesis): Prairie deermice choose the grassland habitat over forested habitat because their food supply is more abundant in grassland.
Hypothesis 2A (your alternative to hypothesis 2): ?
Predictions are numbered as for the hypotheses (i.e., Prediction 1 goes with Hypothesis 1, Prediction 1A goes with Hypothesis 1A, Prediction 2 goes with Hypothesis 2, and Prediction 2A goes with Hypothesis
2A)
Prediction 1?
Prediction 1A?
Prediction 2?
Prediction 2A?