A biologist wonders if the life span of bats will be affected by two new food sources from invasive species moving into an area. To conduct the experiment, the biologist needs three treatment groups: a group where the diet will not include invasive species (control), a group where the diet will include one invasive species (treatment group 1), and another group where the diet will include the other invasive species (treatment group 2). The biologist chooses the first cloud-free night and catches the first 18 bats that fly out of a cave, placing them into three equal groups of six bats. To decide the treatment for each group, the biologist places three slips of paper labeled control, treatment group 1, and treatment group 2 in a hat and randomly selects 2 slips of paper. The first piece of paper gives the treatment for the first group, the second piece of paper gives the treatment for the second group, and the remaining treatment is given to the third group. Which component is missing from the biologist’s process?

a. The biologist did not use proper labeling on the pieces of paper.
b. The biologist did not use the appropriate number of treatment groups.
c. The biologist did not randomly assign the individual bats to the treatment groups.
d, The biologist did not randomly choose the weather on the night for bat capture.

The component that is missing from the biologist's process is: c. The biologist did not randomly assign the each of the bats to the treatment groups.

When carrying out a research study where you have groups created that you want to study, differences between and within groups can be satisfactory ensured that they are not systematic when subjects are randomly assigned to groups.

Thus, it gives the researcher the confidence that groups are the same in terms of variables, and any differences can be confidently ascribed to experimental treatments.

Learn more about random assignment on:

link

D

Step-by-step explanation:

Every factor, besides for the factor you are testing for, must be the same for all of the groups and must be randomly selected. Choosing bats from one clear night isn’t random because a cloud free night might effect which bats first fly out of the cave.

It’s like surveying the first few people who walk out of a movie theater and asking if they thought the movie was good. Most likely not because they left so early/quickly. This can skew the results from being completely random and won’t reflect the entire population as a whole accurately.

Also, note that for every other answer choice, they are correct.

A - The biologist did use proper labeling

B - There are enough treatment groups

C - He did randomly assign 6 for each group

Therefore, by process of elimination, it is D.

I hope this helps! :)

step-by-step explanation:

a thesis statement is not a fact or a question

step-by-step explanation:

a thesis statement is a topic it is not a fact or a question