Lucy lives near a small pond. Lucy is studying the spread of the invasive plant called purple loosestrife near the pond. Every month for the past two years, she has counted the number of loosestrife plants near the pond. She has also counted the number of other plants, such as cattails, found at the pond over the years.

Question

Lucy lives near a small pond. Lucy is studying the spread of the invasive plant called purple loosestrife near the pond. Every month for the past two years, she has counted the number of loosestrife plants near the pond. She has also counted the number of other plants, such as cattails, found at the pond over the years.

What question can Lucy answer using the data she has collected?
A.
Do songbirds eat the seeds produced by the loosestrife plants?

B.
Has the number of cattails gone down as the number of loosestrife plants has gone up?

C.
Do ducks like to nest in loosestrife plants more than in cattail plants?

Answer 1

The question that Lucy can answer using the data she has collected is B. "Has the number of cattails gone down as the number of loosestrife plants has gone up?"

To answer this question, Lucy can compare the trends in the number of cattails and loosestrife plants over the past two years. By plotting the data on a graph or creating a table, Lucy can visually analyze the relationship between the two variables. If the number of cattails has consistently decreased as the number of loosestrife plants has increased, it would suggest that there may be a negative impact or competition between the two plant species. Conversely, if there is no significant correlation between the two variables, it implies that the increase in loosestrife plants does not directly affect the number of cattails.