Did you know that the Warwick is just one of around three hundred known shipwrecks spread across the world's oceans? Leila Hamdan and team wanted to find out how wooden shipwrecks affect the distribution of microbes on the seafloor. The researchers studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. They placed pieces of pine and oak between 0 and 200 meters away from each shipwreck to collect samples of microbes. They found that pine and oak pieces placed about 125 meters from the shipwrecks had the most species of microbes on them.
According to the text, at what approximate distance from the studied shipwrecks did the researchers observe the most species of microbes on the pine and oak pieces?
Explanation
Context: Leila Hamdan and team studied how wooden shipwrecks affect microbial distribution on the seafloor. They studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico, placing pine and oak pieces at distances from 0 to 200 meters away from each wreck to collect microbe samples. They found that pine and oak pieces about 125 meters from the shipwrecks had the most microbial species.
Answer: D) 125 meters
Why? The text directly states: "pine and oak pieces placed about 125 meters from the shipwrecks had the most species of microbes on them." D is a direct retrieval of this stated measurement.
Traps:
- A) "200 meters" → this is the maximum distance they placed samples, not where the most species were found
- B) "0 meters" → this is the minimum distance (right at the shipwreck), not the peak diversity location
- C) "30 meters" → not mentioned in the text; 125 meters is the stated distance