Question

What might be the correlation between the clarity of the lake water and the occurrence of the full body plate trait? What might you conclude about the clarity of the water from 1950 to 1980 based on this correlation?

Answer 1

Answer:

The clarity of lake water is a function of the amount of phytoplankton present in the water and clearer the water, the less threatened it is with the full body plate fish.

Explanation:

The correlation between the clarity of the lake water and the occurrence of the full body plate trait is determined by the measure of phytoplankton. The increase or decrease of phytoplankton is the function of pH level of the water. There is an exchange of Carbon dioxide and oxygen between the atmosphere and the water body in the carbon cycle. An increase in barometric carbon dioxide causes a corresponding increase in carbon dioxide absorbed by the water body and this in turn lead to increase in the pH level of the ocean waters which slow down the growth of phytoplankton and low level of plankton growth will increase the clarity of lake water.

So, the amount of full body plate trait present in the water depends on the clarity of water in the sense that full body plates are dark in color and when clarity is decreased, the full body plates can hide and the survival rate is higher. However, when the clarity is increased, they will highly exposed and survival rate is reduced.