Biology Forums - Study Force

Whiteflies are common pest insects found on cotton, tomato, poinsettia, and many other plants. Nymphs are translucent and mostly sessile, feeding on their host plants' phloem (sap) from the undersides of leaves. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis into winged adults. Because whitefly nymphs cannot escape predation by moving, you hypothesize that their translucent bodies make them hard to spot by predators. How could you directly test this hypothesis?
A) Compare rates of predation on whitefly nymphs on plant leaves of different colors (e.g., red vs. green poinsettia leaves).
B) Compare rates of predation on whitefly nymphs coated with a nontoxic dye vs. undyed whitefly nymphs.
C) Compare rates of predation on whitefly nymphs vs. whitefly adults.
D) Compare rates of predation on whitefly nymphs by predators that are translucent vs. predators that are not translucent.
E) Compare rates of predation on whitefly nymphs feeding on poisonous plants vs. those feeding on nonpoisonous plants.

B