Questions come from the Bluebook question bank.
Juvenile Plants Found Growing on Bare Ground and in Patches of Vegetation for Five SpeciesSpecies Bare ground Patches of vegetation Total Percent found in patches of vegetation T. moroderi 9 13 22 59.1% T. libanitis 83 120 203 59.1% H. syriacim 95 106 201 52.7% H. squamatum 218 321 539 59.6% H. stoechas 11 12 23 52.2%
Alicia Montesinos-Navarro, Isabelle Storer, and Rocío Perez-Barrales recently examined several plots within a diverse plant community in southeast Spain. The researchers calculated that if individual plants were randomly distributed on this particular landscape, only about 15% would be with other plants in patches of vegetation. They counted the number of juvenile plants of five species growing in patches of vegetation and the number growing alone on bare ground and compared those numbers to what would be expected if the plants were randomly distributed. Based on these results, they claim that plants of these species that grow in close proximity to other plants gain an advantage at an early developmental stage.
Which choice best describes data from the table that support the researchers’ claim?