Abotanist observes a large population of a particular type of beetle eating the leaves of one tree but not the leaves of a nearby tree. what should the botanist do first to study the interaction of these organisms in the ecosystem?
remove the beetle population from the tree, and study them in the lab.
identify the species of the beetle and the species of both trees.
determine why the beetle is eating one tree but not the other.
recommend a treatment that will keep the beetles from eating the trees.

The correct option is this: IDENTIFY THE SPECIES OF THE BEETLE AND THE SPECIES OF BOTH TREES.

The fact that the beetles are feeding on a particular tree and refuse to feed on another type of tree shows that, the beetles have preference for the tree they are feeding on. In order for a scientist to accurately study the interactions between the beetles and the two trees, he has to identify the species of the beetles and the species of the two trees.

The correct answer would be "Identify the species of the beetle and the species of both trees".

Identification of species of beetles and both the trees should be the first step in order to study the interaction between different organisms.

In an ecosystem, both interspecific and intraspecific interactions take place. The interactions could be mutualism, competition, predation, commensalism et cetera.

Thus, the identification of species would help a lot in identifying the type of interaction taking place in an ecosystem.