Open Question
A team of 102 scientists spent a year surveying a small area of the San Lorenzo rain forest in Panama to count the number of species of arthropods living there. After collecting 129,494 specimens—using nets, traps, shovels, tree-climbing harnesses, helium balloons, and other creative gear—it took the team eight years to sort and identify the arthropods.The researchers observed a strong correlation between the number of arthropod species and the number of plant species in the San Lorenzo forest. Pose an evolutionary hypothesis to explain this correlation.