HSA 2006 Biology Item 32

Researchers are studying slider turtles. Slider turtles hatch on the beach. The researchers discovered that larger baby turtles were more likely to survive than smaller baby turtles. They hypothesized that the larger turtles could move more quickly toward the water than the smaller turtles, reducing their exposure to predators.

The survival advantage for the larger baby turtles is a result of

1. natural selection
2. gene splicing
3. mutualism
4. commensalism