The pea aphid, a type of insect, contains light-capturing pigments in its exoskeleton. Scientists hypothesize that pea aphids ga
ined the ability to synthesize these pigments from genes transferred from fungi during evolution. While pea aphids do not have chloroplasts or fix carbon, researchers have found that pea aphids with more pigments have higher levels of ATP than those with fewer pigments. Pea aphids also have been shown to increase production of ATP when exposed to sunlight. Based on this information, is the pea aphid a true autotroph? A. Yes, because the pea aphid does not need to use energy from food. B. No, because the pea aphid must eat fungi in order to produce the pigments. C. Yes, because the pea aphid can store energy from the sun in ATP molecules. D. No, because the pea aphid does not produce its own food using sunlight.
Answer:Based on the information given we can not say pea aphid as an autotroph. Because pea aphid ability to produce ATP in the presence of sun is due to the light-capturing pigment that it gains from the genes transferred from fungi.
As pea aphid do not have any chloroplast and it cannot fix carbon so it is not a true autotroph. We can say it false autotroph because it can produce ATP in the presence of sunlight and can show increased production of ATP at the higher level of pigment.
Adaptive radiation. Adaptive radiation is a rapid increase in the number of species with a common ancestor, characterized by great ecological and morphological diversity.
