Question

Whiteflies are common pest insects found on cotton, tomato, poinsettia, and many other plants. Nymphs are translucent and mostly sessile, feeding on their host plant's 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?

Answer 1

Answer: Comparing the rates of predation on whitefly nymphs coated with a nontoxic dye versus the undyed whitefly nymphs.

Explanation:

A hypothesis refers to an assumption, which is proposed for the sake of an argument which is tested to ascertain if it's true.

The hypothesis can be tested by comparing the rates of predation on whitefly nymphs coated with a nontoxic dye versus the undyed whitefly nymphs.