Transcribed Image Text:Consider why there might be natural selection for poisonous plants to warn potential herbivores
with bright colors, but why there seems to be no similar selective pressure for poisonous mushrooms
to do the same. Which of the following best explains this difference?
a) Fungi, like mushrooms, do not rely on photosynthesis and hence do not need to attract or warn herbivores
with bright colors.
Plants have a symbiotic relationship with herbivores, which is not the case for mushrooms.
Mushrooms are typically more toxic than plants, so there is no need for them to develop warning colors.
Most of a fungus’s body is the mycelium which exists underground, hence consumption of the above-ground
mushroom cap represents a comparatively smaller fitness cost than for plants, whose vital photosynthetic
structures can be consumed by herbivores.
with bright colors, but why there seems to be no similar selective pressure for poisonous mushrooms
to do the same. Which of the following best explains this difference?
a) Fungi, like mushrooms, do not rely on photosynthesis and hence do not need to attract or warn herbivores
with bright colors.
Plants have a symbiotic relationship with herbivores, which is not the case for mushrooms.
Mushrooms are typically more toxic than plants, so there is no need for them to develop warning colors.
Most of a fungus’s body is the mycelium which exists underground, hence consumption of the above-ground
mushroom cap represents a comparatively smaller fitness cost than for plants, whose vital photosynthetic
structures can be consumed by herbivores.
