Text 1
For decades, researchers assumed that forest dynamics were governed solely by competition for light and soil nutrients. However, ecologist Dr. Evelyn Reed argues that trees are connected in an underground cooperative network mediated by mycorrhizal fungi. Reed’s research suggests that older, established "mother trees" use these fungal conduits to actively allocate carbon and defensive signals to younger seedlings, particularly their own kin. According to Reed, this resource sharing is an evolutionary adaptation that enhances the collective resilience of the forest community, showing that cooperation, rather than competition, is central to forest survival.
Text 2
While Dr. Evelyn Reed views mycorrhizal networks as conduits for mutual aid among trees, evolutionary biologist Dr. Julian Martinez offers a more skeptical interpretation. Martinez contends that the transfer of carbon between trees is not an act of altruistic sharing by the trees themselves. Instead, Martinez argues that the fungi controlling the network act as selfish intermediaries, actively extracting carbon from donor trees and distributing it to other plants only to ensure their own survival and maintain a diverse host pool. In Martinez's view, what appears to be tree-to-tree cooperation is merely the byproduct of fungal exploitation.
Based on the passages, how would Martinez (Text 2) most likely characterize the claim of cooperation among trees described in Text 1?
- AAs a phenomenon that occurs only between parent trees and their direct offspring rather than across the wider forest community.
- As a misinterpretation of resource transfers that are actually driven by the self-serving behavior of the fungal network.Cevap
- CAs an inaccurate claim because empirical evidence shows that carbon is transferred directly through root systems rather than fungal networks.
- DAs a hypothesis that fails to account for the lack of actual carbon movement between donor and recipient trees.